The MEK \u2014 officially the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or the People\u2019s Mujahideen of Iran in English \u2014 has waged war against the Islamist regime in Iran since it seized power in 1979. Formerly based in Iraq, the group is believed to have killed thousands of Iranians in terror attacks.<\/em><\/p>\n In Tehran, Isfahan, Qom and Qaemshahr, among numerous other cities, MEK supporters were celebrating Soleimani\u2019s death by throwing parties and handing out pastries.#Iranhttps:\/\/t.co\/Xp7v6kDX07<\/em><\/p>\n \u2014 People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 7, 2020<\/em><\/p>\n But far away from the battlefields of the Middle East, the MEK has also waged a campaign for influence in glossy functions at diplomatic events in western capitals, successfully cultivating powerful allies in western governments.<\/p>\n Among them are current and former officials in the top echelons of the Trump administration \u2014 including those who Trump regularly turns to advice on Iran, such as personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.<\/p>\n Soleimani was \u201cdirectly responsible for killing some of my MEK people,\u201d Giuliani told The Daily Beast in an interview on Monday, making no attempt to disguise his closeness to the group.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t like him very much.\u201d<\/p>\n And its not just Giuliani who has longstanding ties to the MEK.<\/p>\n In September, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended an event on the fringes of the United Nations assembly in New York alongside the MEK.<\/p>\n Hawkish national security adviser John Bolton, who departed the administration in September after reportedly pushing for Trump to launch strikes against Iran, also had links to the MEK. Bolton has attended the group\u2019s conferences, and long served as its most powerful advocate in Washington DC.<\/p>\n Eli Clifton, an expert on US foreign policy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told Business Insider that the MEK had long advocated the assassination of Iranian regime officials.<\/p>\n \u201cThe MEK clearly endorses the assassination of Iranian government officials and employees. In 2012, NBC News reported that the MEK was directly involved in the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists,\u201d Clifton wrote in an email Wednesday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The MEK emerged in opposition to the then ruler of Iran, the Shah, in the late 1960s, inspired by a blend of Marxist ideology and Islamic theology.<\/p>\n When Islamist rivals seized control of the country after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the MEK fled to neighboring Iraq, where it fought against Iran alongside then-president Saddam Hussein\u2019s forces.<\/p>\n Defectors have claimed that the group seeks to brainwash members \u2014 forcing them to confess to sexual fantasies in bizarre public shaming rituals and to send away their children to be brought up by others. It has been described by several ex-members as a cult.<\/p>\n Several thousand MEK members live in a compound in Albania, where they reportedly spend their days on social media distributing anti-Iranian propaganda.<\/p>\n In Paris, where the MEK\u2019s official headquarters is located, the group holds glitzy functions as it seeks to cultivate influential western officials. It has hired Iran hawks in Washington to speak at its events, paying them large speaking fees. It was eventually de-listed as a terror group by the US in 2012 following a long lobbying campaign.<\/p>\n Despite the rigid control it exerts over members, it has sought to portray itself as the only viable democratic alternative to the current Iranian regime.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the president\u2019s personal attorney and former national security adviser have effectively endorsed the MEK as a legitimate opposition group and a viable government exile for Iran, it certainly raises serious questions about the extent to which the MEK is influencing the administration\u2019s Iran policy,\u201d Clifton told Business Insider.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The group\u2019s activities in Europe have attracted the ire of Iran, with French officials in October 2018 accusing Iranian intelligence of being behind a plot to bomb a rally held by the MEK\u2019s political arm in Paris. The rally was attended by Giuliani and Newt Gingrich, former House speaker and Trump ally.<\/p>\n And with the US now taking the hardline stance towards Iran it has long advocated, it will be likely seeking to consolidate its influence in Washington DC.<\/p>\n Tom Porter, Business Insider<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani speaks in front of portraits of deceased members of the Iranian dissident group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), In the wake of the US assassination of Iranian…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[112,64,20],"module":[81],"ctype":[17],"blog":[109],"class_list":["post-10402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mujahedin-khalq-proxy-force","tag-hot-topics","tag-mkos-terrorist-activities","tag-third-view-mek","module-article","ctype-story","blog-western-bloggers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10402","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=10402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10402"},{"taxonomy":"module","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/module?post=10402"},{"taxonomy":"ctype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctype?post=10402"},{"taxonomy":"blog","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog?post=10402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/Soleimani_Ceremony.jpg)