{"id":10037,"date":"2019-07-21T11:01:03","date_gmt":"2019-07-21T06:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/?p=10037"},"modified":"2021-06-07T12:10:47","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T07:40:47","slug":"the-mek-have-very-little-support-within-iran-if-any","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/posts\/10037","title":{"rendered":"The MEK have very little support within Iran, if any"},"content":{"rendered":"

US Politicians Speak At Iranian Opposition Conference<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Controversial Group MEK Suspected Of Being a Cult<\/strong><\/p>\n

The controversial Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq(MEK), held their annual \u201cFree Iran\u201d conference at their headquarters Ashraf 3 in Tirana, Albania on Saturday. They call their Iranian opposition coalition the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The NCRI\u2019s \u201cpresident elect\u201d is the MEK\u2019s leader Maryam Rajavi. Among the many speakers were several former US politicians, most notably former mayor of New York City and one of President Trump\u2019s personal lawyers Rudy Giuliani.<\/p>\n

The MEK are often referred to as a cult by critics. The group was based out of Iraq for many years and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the US government commissioned a report on the MEK from inside their former headquarters<\/a> at camp Ashraf, Iraq. The report said, \u201cmany of the typical characteristics of a cult, such as authoritarian control, confiscation of assets, sexual control (including mandatory divorce and celibacy), emotional isolation, forced labour, sleep deprivation, physical abuse and limited exit options.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"

Trump\u2019s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, his pockets stuffed with terrorist cash, tweeted on Saturday that MEK is a viable alternative to the rule of the mullahs in Iran.<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Giuliani addressed the accusations of the MEK being a cult, \u201cThese are people who are dedicated to freedom, and if you think that\u2019s a cult then there is something wrong with you.\u201d In the video posted to the NCRI\u2019s twitter after Giuliani made these comments, the camera panned to hundreds of women wearing matching outfits and red hijabs, clapping in the audience.<\/p>\n

Giuliani called for regime change in Tehran and made it clear he thinks the MEK is the group that should take over. He also expressed his support for Trump\u2019s policy of aggression towards Iran, \u201cI\u2019m proud of my government to tear up that nuclear deal. We don\u2019t put nuclear weapons in the hands of murderers. When you put money in the hands of murderers, you are supporting murderers. When a German company makes business with Iran, they are helping to kill people in Syria, or kill us here in Albania. You are funding murderers. That makes you complicit in murder. We don\u2019t allow people to fund murder. Wake up. When you buy oil from Iran you are funding murder. Face it and stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman spoke at the event and also expressed his support of Trump\u2019s Iran policy, \u201cI say this as a Democrat. President Trump has been heroic and historic in taking the actions he has to break the Iran nuclear agreement, to impose sanctions on the Iranian government.\u201d Lieberman voiced his support for MEK\u2019s leadership, \u201cMaryam Rajavi is a principled, visionary, selfless leader and cares for every one of you\u2026 Ashraf 3 is the best proof that this movement is a viable alternative to the ruling mullahs in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other American politicians who spoke were former Pennsylvanian Governor Tom Ridge, who also served in George W. Bush\u2019s White House in the Department of Homeland Security, former FBI director Louis Freeh, former US House Representative for California Dana Rohrabacher and former US House Representative for Texas Ted Poe. They all called for regime change in Tehran and expressed their support for the MEK.<\/p>\n

Current US House Representative for Texas, Lance Gooden, was the only American politician currently in office who spoke. Gooden assumed office in January of this year, after winning the election in November 2018. Gooden said, \u201cThe first thing I learned about Iran is that the most respected individual among the Iranian community is Madame Rajavi\u2026 We have to have regime change in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Gooden\u2019s comments, the MEK have very little support within Iran, if any.<\/strong> The MEK have a violent history and started out as opposition against the US installed Shah, killing scores of his police throughout the 1970\u2019s. When Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took power in Iran, he quickly deemed the MEK a threat to his efforts of turning the country into an Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n

After an MEK bombing killed the Iranian president and several other senior leaders of the Islamic Republic, the Ayatollah began to arrest and execute members of the MEK. The remaining members of the group fled to Iraq, where Saddam Hussein gave them refuge in a military base called Camp Ashraf. The MEK took Hussein\u2019s side in the brutal eight-year war between Iran and Iraq, causing them to lose what little support they may have still had in Iran.<\/p>\n

Rajavi\u2019s husband was the group\u2019s leader until he disappeared after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Rajavi ran a lavish lobbying campaign inside Washington to get the group removed from the US terror list when she took over. The Obama administration took them off the terror list in 2012.<\/p>\n

Security Advisor John Bolton has reportedly received $180,000 from speaking at various MEK events before gaining his position in the Trump administration.<\/strong> Trump has said he is not seeking regime change in Tehran, but the group has money and a lot of influence inside Washington. If Trump does end up going to war with Iran they may be the group the US tries to install in Tehran.
\nBy Dave DeCamp<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The remaining members of the group fled to Iraq, where Saddam Hussein gave them refuge in a military base called Camp Ashraf. The MEK took Hussein\u2019s side in the brutal eight-year war between Iran and Iraq, causing them to lose what little support they may have still had in Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[24521,21405,20],"module":[81],"ctype":[17],"blog":[88],"class_list":["post-10037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mujahedin-khalq-proxy-force","tag-alternative","tag-ashraf-3-camp-mek-base-in-albania","tag-third-view-mek","module-article","ctype-story","blog-anti-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10037"},{"taxonomy":"module","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/module?post=10037"},{"taxonomy":"ctype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctype?post=10037"},{"taxonomy":"blog","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog?post=10037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}