Robert John Blackman CBE MP is a British politician who has served as chairman of the 1922 Committee and chair of the Backbench Business Committee since 2024 is a member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament for Harrow East since 2010. He is an ardent supporter of the MEK. He has also received in the group’s headquarters in Albania where he made a speech on behalf of the group.

His recent post to on his X account was slammed by women and young people inside and outside Iran.  An Iranian user on X replied Blackman: You do not get to “stand with the Iranian people” while actively legitimizing a group that the Iranian people themselves overwhelmingly reject.  Another user asked him how much he was paid in exchange for the support he voices for the MEK terrorist group. #MEKTerrorist became viral again.

While the UK government has banned Maryam Rajavi from entering the UK on national security grounds, Blackman has repeatedly questioned the British Parliament for her case.

Blackman has been previously condemned for his support for the MEK. A petition was launched on Change.org in which the signatories asked the British government to investigate Bob Blackman’s relationship with the MEK and any undeclared financial interest. The petition reads: “As British citizens and supporters of democracy, we believe Members of Parliament should be held to the highest standards of transparency and accountability, particularly when advocating on behalf of foreign political organisations.” The signatories call for transparency.

Iranian users assert that their legitimate questions about Blackman’s relationship with the MEK should be answered impartially because the group has invested heavily in political lobbying.

Any undeclared financial or non-financial benefits connected to Blackman’s advocacy for the MEK should be investigated and the findings should be made public.

Blackman should know that laundering an extremist terrorist cult under the cover democracy does not make him an ally of Iranian women and young people.

If he truly stands for freedom, democracy, and human rights, start by acknowledging that Parliament’s record including his own, shows a worrying willingness to ignore Iranian voices in favor of a deeply hated group by Iranians.

Mazda Parsi

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In Iran, the week preceding the anniversary of their martyrdom is commemorated annually as Government Week, honoring the two great leaders and their service to the country before and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The bombing, which took place on August 30, 1981, was carried out through the infiltration of Masoud Keshmiri, an operative of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MKO) terrorist group, into Iran’s state apparatus. According to accounts from survivors and witnesses, Keshmiri had concealed an explosive device inside a briefcase and placed it beneath the table during a meeting at the Prime Minister’s office.

How was the bombing carried out?

The attack occurred in the afternoon of August 30, 1981, at the Prime Minister’s office on Pasteur Street in central Tehran.

President Rajaei, Prime Minister Bahonar and a number of senior military and security officials had gathered for an extraordinary meeting when the bomb was detonated.

Keshmiri, who had infiltrated the government while posing as a security official, reportedly served tea to those attending the meeting before placing a briefcase containing the explosive device underneath the meeting table.

Subsequent investigations determined that the briefcase contained a sophisticated bomb loaded with more than one kilogram of TNT. The device bore similarities to the explosive used in the Hafte Tir bombing two months earlier.

Investigators only uncovered the technical characteristics of the explosives used in the two attacks months later. As a result, authorities had not initially possessed sufficient information to identify the methods used or prevent another attack of the same nature.

After planting the bomb, the perpetrator reportedly spoke briefly with Khosrow Tehrani, who headed the intelligence unit at the Prime Minister’s office at the time. He then left the meeting, using an excuse to avoid suspicion.

He made his way toward Pasteur Square, where he reportedly met accomplices who assisted him in reaching a safe location and escaping.

According to testimonies from survivors and eyewitnesses, the massive bomb detonated after one of those present opened the briefcase. The magnitude of the explosion destroyed the first and second floors of the building where the meeting was underway.

Eight people were martyred and 23 others were injured.

The blast left the bodies of Rajaei and Bahonar so severely burned that their identities were subsequently established through dental records, according to reports from that time.

Who were Rajaee and Bahonar?

Rajaei and Bahonar were the principal targets of the terrorist bombing. Both had assumed their respective offices only about four weeks before they were assassinated.

Rajaei, a mathematics teacher and graduate of Tarbiat Moallem University, was aged 48 when he was martyred.

Following the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, he became Minister of Education, serving in the position for seven months. He later entered the Islamic Consultative Assembly, representing Tehran, and served as a lawmaker for 15 months.

Rajaei subsequently became prime minister. Following the removal of President Abolhassan Banisadr, he was elected Iran’s second president with a large majority of votes.

A number of major public institutions and infrastructure projects have been named after him, including Teacher Training University in Tehran, a power plant in Qazvin Province, a port in Hormozgan Province and a dam in Mazandaran Province.

Bahonar was an Islamic theologian who studied at the Qom Seminary and later at the University of Tehran, where he earned a doctorate. He was 47 at the time of his martyrdom.

Following the Islamic Revolution, Bahonar served as Minister of Education and was elected to parliament, representing both Kerman and Tehran at different times.

He also became Secretary General of the Islamic Republican Party following the martyrdom of Ayatollah Mohammad Hossein Beheshti.

Bahonar was additionally a member of the Assembly of Experts for the Constitution, the body responsible for drafting Iran’s post-revolutionary constitution.

Rajaei and Bahonar were buried alongside the victims of the Hafte Tir bombing at the Hafte Tir mausoleum in Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra cemetery.

Six other people were also martyred in the attack. They included Abdol-Hossein Daftarian, the Prime Minister’s chief financial officer, and Vahid Dastjerdi, the head of Iran’s police force.

MKO’s campaign of bombings

While no organization immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on Rajaei and Bahonar, the subsequent investigation identified Keshmiri as an MKO operative who had infiltrated the security apparatus by posing as a security official.

The bombing came just two months after another major MKO terrorist attack in Tehran, targeting a meeting of the Islamic Republican Party (IRP), then Iran’s leading political party.

The June 28, 1981 attack became known as the Hafte Tir bombing, after the date on the Iranian calendar on which it occurred. It was among the deadliest terrorist attacks in the early years of the Islamic Republic and was aimed at destabilizing the newly established system through a campaign of targeted violence.

More than 90 senior officials, including lawmakers and cabinet ministers, were attending the meeting when the bomb exploded. They had gathered to hear a speech by Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Beheshti, who was then head of Iran’s judiciary.

The bombing followed another attempted assassination one day earlier.

On June 27, 1981, then-Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei was delivering a speech at Tehran’s Abuzar Mosque when an explosive hidden inside a tape recorder detonated. The attack by MKO operatives severely injured his arm, vocal cords and lungs.

The sophistication of the explosives, the materials employed and the methods used to conceal the devices led Iranian investigators to conclude that foreign intelligence agencies had also played a role in supporting the MKO’s terrorist campaign.

Keshmiri ultimately escaped Iran using a forged passport. Several of his associates were arrested and convicted, while authorities launched extensive security checks among employees of state institutions to identify possible infiltrators.

The precise circumstances of Keshmiri’s subsequent life have never been publicly established. Reports say he escaped to Europe and has continued to live in one of the European countries.

More than four decades later, the August 30 bombing remains one of the deadliest terrorist attacks, while Government Week continues to commemorate Rajaei and Bahonar and their exemplary contribution to the country and an occasion to renew the pledge to continue their unfinished mission.

Press TV

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Right-wing populist leader Janez Janša assumed office as Prime Minister of Slovenia in early June 2026, marking the start of his fourth term. According to DW, his new coalition government immediately sparked domestic and international controversy with divisive policies, ranging from proposed domestic tax cuts to major shifts in foreign policy.

Janša’s controversial policies include his involvement with the MEK, the formerly terrorist designated cult-like group under the ruling of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. On July 12^th, 2021, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D Group) called for clarification on PM Janez Janša’s participation in a meeting sponsored by the MEK.

The S & D group published an announcement on their website stating that they were shocked to learn that the prime minister of Slovenia, Janez Janša, whose country is chairing the EU rotating presidency, addressed an online gathering, which was organized by the so-called National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the MEK political vitrine.

“This anti-democratic, cult-like organization, which was on the EU terrorist list until 2009, has a long history of human rights abuses documented by organizations such as Human Rights Watch”, the announcement read.

Moreover, Tonino Picula, S&D spokesperson on foreign affairs and Jytte Guteland, S&D shadow rapporteur on Iran, made the following statement:

“Support for a group with such a violent, anti-democratic record, at the level of the prime minister of a country holding the rotating presidency of the EU, is extremely irresponsible and grave. It undermines the ongoing efforts of the EU and its High Representative Josep Borrell to revive the nuclear agreement with Iran, a key foreign-policy priority for the EU.

“We call on the EPP Group to immediately and clearly distance themselves from such destructive behavior from one of its members, and clarify whether it supports such a key EU foreign policy objective as the restoration of the nuclear agreement with Iran, or not.”

One of the first actions that the staunch supporter of Maryam Rajavi has taken is to trample on the rights of the Palestinian people. On June 28^th Slovenia Times   reported that Janša has announced plans to reverse the previous government’s 2024 recognition of the State of Palestine, claiming it violated domestic law. Additionally, the government intends to relocate the Slovenian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. If completed, Slovenia would become the first EU member state to do so.

Jerusalem is a part of the State of Palestine according to UN resolutions. That’s why, despite Israel’s requests, except for a few limited countries, the rest of the world is not willing to move its embassy to Jerusalem. In order to declare his unity with the Israel regime, which does not hesitate to commit any kind of crime against civilians and children, Janša reversed the rule of his country. This is a totally normal act by a person who ignores the five-decade long background of the MEK’s violent activities and the cult-like extremist attitudes it still maintains.

Mazda Parsi

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The high-ranking official from the American Enterprise Institute, in an Op-Ed on Middle East Forum warned for the umpteenth time about the MEK’s psychological operations among European and American politicians. He recalled that in the early years of the Islamic Republic’s government, the MEK opposed Ayatollah Khomeini not because they had a problem with his ideology, but because they wanted a share in power and did not achieve it.

Explaining the current MEK operation in the West, Rubin writes:

“In the United States and Europe, the MEK engages in a psychological operation to suggest they are pro-Western or committed to democracy. That is nonsense. They operate as a cult, isolate their members, and foster anti-Americanism. They have become North Korea, only with more food and slicker public relations. Many of the MEK’s claims of infiltrating Iran or running operations inside the country are demonstrably untrue. Former officials who support them do so not because of ideological fealty, but rather because of lucrative honoraria.”

This American historian writes of Maryam Rajavi’s current frustration, and that during and after the protests, the Iranian people ignored or cursed the MEK, and despite the organization’s grandiose statements and claims of public support, the MEK is known among Iranians as nothing more than a group of frauds.

He refers to Maryam Rajavi’s announcement of a “provisional government” and considers it “little more than play-acting.” According to him, no American official—even those to whom the MEK and its proxy organizations have given hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial assistance—takes the potential MEK government seriously.

This political commentator, opposed to the Iranian government, criticizes Rajavi for the strict hijab he imposes on the group’s women and speaks of Rajavi’s hostility to Pahlavi. According to Rubin, “the most important thing for Rajavi is power,” and in order to achieve power in Iran, he is likely to launch “potential assassination campaigns”. This organization has already killed a large number of Iranian citizens and officials.

The author of the article calls on Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, to immediately re-designate the MEK as a terrorist organization on the list of foreign terrorist groups, so that the group’s infrastructure and members can gather on US soil and then pressure European countries to do the same with Rajavi and his inner circle.

Mazda Parsi

The post Will the Mujahedin-e Khalq Try to Kill Pahlavi? appeared first on Nejat Society.

Here are four deteriorating parts that are considered to be taken by the MEK defined by four different experts with different political views:

The MEK unable to unify opposition

For Middle East expert Andreas Krieg, the MEK’s ability to unify opposition is inadequate. “When it comes to MEK, it is important to separate perceived reach from real on-the-ground traction,” Krieg told DW.

About the MEK’s deficiencies he says: “The organization is disciplined, media-savvy, and able to generate noise, lobbying pressure, and messaging volume from abroad. However, it has deep legitimacy problems among many Iranians because of its history, internal-control allegations, and its long exile posture.”

Krieg confirms that the MEK is a useful tool for disinformation campaign launched by warmongers and anti-Iran hawks. “The MEK is easy for multiple actors to instrumentalize in the information space, including anti-Iran hawks in the US and Israel,” he told DW.

While the MEK’s spokesman in Washington, Ali Safavi tells DW that his group’s “resistance units direct, coordinate and organize the resistance against the repressive forces”, Kreig clarifies that “it does not at all have any role to play in leading these protests”.

A chameleon cult to decoy the West

The MEK’s illegitimacy among Iranians has been widely stated by experts. The American historian, foreign policy analyst and government adviser Michael Rubin once more states that the recent Iranian protests have confirmed that the MEK has no backing or legitimacy among Iranians. This time he asked the secretary of the US state department to re-designate the group.

Rubin believes that the MEK is a cult-like political chameleon that “shifts its rhetoric to support whomever it thought its patrons might be.”

“When it solicits Congress, it feigns commitment to democracy, even as its actions and its internal rhetoric suggest it remains unchanged and unabashedly anti-American,” he wrote in the Middle East Forum referring to the group’s anti-American background including the assassination of the US citizens in Iran in the 1970s.

The MEK deteriorates everything

As an anti-Iran Israeli, Zina Rakhamilova of Israel Hayom finds the MEK “a threat to Iran’s revolution”.

Rakhamilova is a supporter of Reza Pahlavi who is concerned about the MEK’s abstracting role in her “struggle” against Iranian government. “On the surface, the MEK’s opposition to the regime may appear principled, but this is misleading, and non-Iranian observers should not be deceived,” she writes. “The MEK is a leftist group that historically aligned with Muslim extremists to topple the government of the day. Their past shows consistent antipathy toward democracy, human rights, and the West, and should they ever rule Iran, the standard of living and humanitarian situation would likely continue to deteriorate.”

She correctly warns about the undemocratic and violent nature of the MEK presenting an example: On January 11, during a pro-Shah rally in Los Angeles, a U-Haul truck drove into the crowd, injuring several protesters. The truck was emblazoned with MEK slogans “NO SHAH. NO REGIME. USA: DON’T REPEAT 1953. NO MULLAH”, aligning with the MEK’s historical modus operandi.

The correspondent of Israel Hayom reminds Western politicians about the MEK’s terrorist activities and its alliance with Saddam Hussein to suppress the Kurdish uprisings against Iraqi Baath regime. She notifies, “US State Department reports document acts of violence against civilians. Maryam Rajavi reportedly instructed fighters: “Take the Kurds under your tanks, and save your bullets for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards”

MEK agents for Mossad-run sabotage in Iran

Regarding the recent unrest and killings in the streets of Iran, the American whistleblower and former CIA officer, John Kiriakou, revealed that these events are the result of a joint CIA and Mossad operation. Referencing public statements made by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Kiriakou stated, “We know this is a Mossad-CIA operation thanks to Pompeo’s own comments.”

Kiriakou noted that while the CIA does not typically maintain personnel on the ground, Mossad has an extensive field presence. He alleged that both agencies work in close cooperation with the MEK.

The MEK’s history as well as its current cult-like structure has made it overlooked for Iranians inside and outside the country. Thus, for decades, Maryam Rajavi and her disappeared husband, Massoud Rajavi, has made efforts to rebrand their group as a democratic alternative to the Iranian government but these days, they are no more in the center of attention except for some experts or journalists to make the world aware about their threat for the future of Iran.

Mazda Parsi

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Rubin is an American historian, foreign policy analyst, government adviser, and military lecturer who holds the position of a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He has long been a critic of the Iranian government as well as the MEK.

In his recent article published by the Middle East Forum, supporting the protests in Iran, Rubin warns about the MEK’s violent background. “Mujahedin bombs killed hundreds of Iranians, as the cult-like group cared little about collateral damage” he writes. “As a result, many Iranians consider them terrorists.”

The American historian correctly notifies that “more damning in Iranian eyes was the Mujahedin-e Khalq’s defection to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq at the height of the Iran-Iraq War.”

About the MEK’s current status as a “chameleon cult”, he writes: In the decades since, the Mujahedin has grown only more cult-like even as it has become a political chameleon, shifting its rhetoric to support whomever it thought its patrons might be. When it solicits Congress, it feigns commitment to democracy, even as its actions and its internal rhetoric suggest it remains unchanged and unabashedly anti-American. “Victory or martyrdom, fighting with America rises from our voice. … Compromise is a shame. Shout from your heart: destroy America!” goes one Mujahedin-e Khalq anthem.

Although this anti-Islam foreign policy analyst seeks the overthrow of Islamic Republic government, he truthfully asks Marco Rubio to designate the MEK as a Foreign Terrorist Organization because he thinks that this unpopular group might deviate the aspirations of Iranians.

He assumes Rubio as the right person to do so: “Rubio, unlike some predecessors, has never accepted Mujahedin-e Khalq bribes under the guise of donations or honoraria; he is not beholden to a group Iranians despise.”

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Vigilance and public synergy

The ministry underscored that public cooperation has been instrumental. In Tehran alone, over 300 key “field leaders” were identified and detained following reports from citizens via the 113 hotline. Similar successes were reported nationwide:
– Kerman Province: A six-member armed cell linked to the “Iran International” media outlet was captured in Rafsanjan and Sirjan. The group, which included four repeat offenders, was involved in attacking a seminary and firing on civilians.
– Khuzestan: Six ringleaders were arrested for the arson and desecration of the Holy Shrine of Sabze-Qaba in Dezful.
– Malard: The perpetrator behind the martyrdom of Officer Mohammad Javad Bakhshian was apprehended and confessed to the stabbing.

German-funded MEK sabotage

In another statement, the ministry detailed the arrest of two operatives in Tehran linked to the terrorist Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) organization.

According to the ministry, these individuals were being remotely managed by a handler based in Germany, and the handler utilized cryptocurrency transfers to fund the purchase of weapons and safe houses.
Confiscated documents and confessions revealed that their mission included “setting fire to mosques and carrying out beheadings” to incite fear.
Authorities seized two Kalashnikov rifles, ammunition, and specialized communication equipment.
This follows the MEK’s own admission that it has played an active field role in the recent disturbances and terror attacks, acknowledging that 38 of its “insurgents” were eliminated in failed operations.

Thwarting the armed siege on Tehranpars

The Ministry of Intelligence also said it neutralized a terrorist team that had infiltrated Iran through western borders with the intent to commit crimes in the capital.
The cell was responsible for a sophisticated armed assault on Police Station 126 in Tehranpars on the evening of January 8.

According to the ministry, the terrorists fired over 850 rounds using military-grade weapons in an attempt to seize the station and loot its armory.

The attack resulted in the martyrdom of several police personnel, Basij members (volunteer security forces as part of the IRGC), and bystanders.

During the final operation to apprehend them, the terrorists opened fire on security forces; in the ensuing exchange, one gunman was killed, and four others were captured.

The ministry added that two intelligence officers from Tehran province were wounded but, demonstrating legendary dedication, “refused to leave the mission or rest until their recovery,” remaining in the field despite their injuries.

Iranian officials maintain that these events, which cumulatively have led to the death of a few thousand, especially from January 8 to January 10, are part of a broader “hybrid war” involving the U.S. and Israel.

Tehran Times

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Hadi Negravi, a former member, participated in the operation under the command of Samira Shams. He witnessed the obvious violence the MEK forces committed against Kurdish villagers. He recalls that not even in one case Kurdish civilians shot a bullet against the MEK’s army, “but the MEK raided the Kurds their various arms brutally”.
According to Negravi’s testimonies, the MEK tanks shot at cars that carried Kurdish civilians. He states: “I saw with my own eyes that the MEK Kascavel shot a Land Rover full of innocent civilians on Kefri crossroad.”

Hadi Negravi who was shocked to see such violence against civilians complained to his commander, Shams: “They were civilians. There were a few innocent people in that car!” but he was encountered with anger. “Stop advocating them otherwise you will be punished too. We are at war and we will execute you right here!” Samira Shams replies.

Negravi was deeply devastated by the Mujahedin’s conduct towards the Kurds and, driven by his awakened conscience, once again protested to Samira Shams: “You had said that Khomeini’s guards were planning to attack the Mujahedin in Kurdish clothing, but we have not yet been attacked, nor have we seen any guards!” But he received an extremely harsh response that assured him that the death sentence that Shams was talking about was not far off.

“My commander and several members of the organization who were with me suddenly went crazy upon hearing my words and rushed towards me. They took me behind one of the IFAs and several people started punching and kicking me. It was as if they had captured one of the Kurdish rebels and not as if I was one of their members! I knew that if they wanted to, they could easily kill me and put the blame on the Kurds in that chaos. I had no choice but to remain silent and pretend that the matter had been resolved for me. But that was the beginning of my dissent with the MEK.”

Yousef Jurfi is another defector of the MEK whose commander was Samira Shams at Camp Ashraf. He has some heart-breaking memories of daily meetings for forced confession and self-criticism. He was exposed by one of his so-called comrades-in-arms, Sirus, simply because he had hidden his daughter’s photo in the Quran and would occasionally glance at it out of homesickness. Sirus and other members of the meeting, led by Samira Shams, beat Yousef. “You coward! You dishonorable person! Instead of putting Brother Massoud’s photo in the Quran, you put your daughter’s picture? Aren’t you ashamed? You scum!” These are the words that were thrown at the subject of the meeting, led by Samira Shams. They wanted Yousef Jurfi to cherish and love Massoud Rajavi, instead of his daughter.

He continued the story of that meeting: “Everyone was shouting at me. I was confused. My eyes were going black. Everyone was cursing and swearing at me and accusing me of betraying the group… Then Sister Samira, who had arranged this scenario for me to first crush and disfigure my character, said: What? Family? Instead of the leader’s photo, you put your daughter’s photo in the Quran? Aren’t you ashamed? Stupid! Filthy! Garbage! We gathered here to sacrifice our lives for Brother Massoud, and then you fall asleep with the love and thought of your daughter and dream about her? Yes, you opened a branch of the Revolutionary Guards in our midst. Let me tell you something. We don’t have a home or a family. The family is top one enemy. Don’t you know, know it right here!”

Moreover, the best picture might be provided by a former child soldier of the MEK, a person named Ailyn Moghadam. She, who escaped the MEK in Albania a few years ago, writes in her description of Samira Shams on her Platform X account:
“He would come… not like a human, but like a nightmare in broad daylight. 360 kilos of anger and hatred. Every step he took would shake the earth, so heavy that the asphalt groaned under her feet. It was as if the earth was tired of her. Her face was sullen, cold and poisonous. Always angry, always demanding. Her voice was like a whip and her gaze was like a knife; she didn’t comfort you; she would tear your heart. No one dared to look her in the eye. She was arrogant, a bully, and no one could get past the extent of her hatred. She didn’t scare people with her gigantic body; she would crush them. She had no respect, no mercy in her heart; she just wanted those around her to crumble under the heavy shadow of her being. She was not ashamed of her behavior; she boasted about it. She was there to command, not to live; to frighten, not to be seen. Yes, her name is Samira Shams. Among us, we called her “Genghis the Mongol.” A nickname that described her better than any other word.”

Mazda Parsi

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According to numerous sources, public perception is that the MEK has little domestic legitimacy in Iran and is widely viewed across the Iranian political spectrum as a “traitorous cult”. The popular slogans chanted by demonstrators indicate that the MEK is widely rejected by them. No one in the streets of Iran chants pro-MEK slogans.

However, the MEK’s mercenaries in Iran, called “resistance units”, are skillful exploiters of legitimate grievances in order to incite violence, and fabricate information to project a fake image of their popularity for their ranks escalating confrontation between true protesters and the government forces.
During three decades of multi-million dollar lobbying in the West, the MEK has been successful to sell itself as a viable alternative for the Iranian government to some Western politicians. The paid sponsors of the MEK in the West fail to align with the political realities inside Iran. According to Mali Rezaei of the abc.net this reinforces “a sense that international actors neither understand nor prioritize Iranian society itself.”

“By treating groups like the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) as representative of the broad Iranian opposition, despite the group’s widespread unpopularity inside Iran due to its wartime collaboration with Saddam Hussein and perceived political opportunism, external actors have further distorted international understandings of dissent,” Rezaei writes. “For many Iranians, this has reinforced the belief that foreign governments continue to misrepresent or override the genuine aspirations emerging from within the country.”

Shabnam Assadollahi, the Canadian human rights advocate and freelance journalist of Iranian origin, writes about the MEK’s unpopularity on the Times of Israel warning the west to “stop playing games with Iran” because “the MEK does not speak for Iranians.”
She also explains that the MEK is widely despised across Iran’s political spectrum, viewed as a traitorous cult, not a credible opposition and finally rejected in public protests.

Legitimizing the MEK undermines democratic values and supporting the group contradicts commitments to democracy, human rights and freedom. This “positions Western governments against the clearly expressed will of the Iranian people”, asserts Assadollahi.

This blogger of the Times of Israel lists the MEK’s terrorist record, cult-like authoritarianism and opportunistic alliances as factors that make it notorious for Iranian public opinion. According to her, Iranian protesters explicitly reject MEK terrorists, separatism and foreign-engineered political projects. And, this reflects their political maturity and historical awareness.

Rezaei and Assadollahi like many other western-based Iranian journalists believe that western states should correct their perception of the Iranians’ aspirations. They must terminate any engagement with the MEK and its affiliated groups like the so-called National Council of Resistance (NCR). Ending participation in MEK events, rallies, and conferences, western politicians should prohibit official endorsements or symbolic legitimization of the group.

In order to get the trust of the Iranian public, Western high profiles should acknowledge the Iranian rejection of the MEK and other extremist separatist groups and respect Iran’s territorial integrity and national unity.

Mazda Parsi

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However, civil protests and demands for the rights of the Iranian people have always been tainted by violent actions by external agents. At the forefront of these violent actors is the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), which, in organizing its activities inside Iran, hires a number of mercenaries ready to commit violence at such times.

In political terms, there is a semantic distinction between “protest” and “violence/riot.” However, in practice, Iran’s internal discontent has always been accompanied by the intervention of elements of the MEK and some other violent groups, and signals of external intervention, such as tweets from Western leaders, have blurred the line between protest and riot. The result of these interventions is chaos and violence that deadlocks popular demands and weakens the possibility of transparent protest action.

It is surprising that the MEK and other Western violent and interventionist groups call this disruption of civil protests “support for the protesters.”

What is the solution?

To prevent the MEK from exploiting the popular protests in Iran and marginalizing the main demands, the Iranian people must focus on their domestic and legitimate demands while maintaining their independence and non-dependence on any foreign group, organization, or government, and reject any violence or incitement to chaos. This approach will help preserve the authenticity of the protests and prevent them from becoming a tool for the goals of groups like the MEK.

People should prevent the protests from being abstracted by clearly defining their demands and insisting on them. Not supporting the slogans and violent actions of the MEK will help maintain the independent identity of the protests.

Raising public awareness about the nature, history, and goals of the MEK organization is very effective in this regard. To prevent falling into the trap of Maryam Rajavi’s deceptive and seemingly democratic and secular slogans, it is necessary to take a deep and careful look at the internal and esoteric reality of the Cult of Rajavi.

First and foremost, former members of the MEK and the victims of this cult-like extremist group, shoulder the burden of this duty. Second, researchers, journalists, and social activists, and ultimately all truth-loving and fair citizens must enlighten their audience about the truth of the MEK.

In addition to paying attention to the physical and violent presence of MEK mercenaries on the streets and in order to reject the violence of the MEK agents, careful observation of cyberspace and media literacy are very important in identifying the MEK forces in their Albanian troll farm, Ashraf 3.

Mazda Parsi

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