The violent nature of the Mujahedin Khalq\nOrganization (the MKO\/ MEK\/ PMOI\/ the Cult of Rajavi) has always been the\nimportant issue of critics and arguments between journalists, analysts and\nthose politicians who support the group and consider it as a democratic\nalternative to the Iranian government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe MEK\u2019s efforts over the past two decades\nto convey a benign public image completely at odds with this internal reality,\nand to pose as a force for democracy in Iran, have depended on buying the\npublic endorsements of well-known public figures,\u201d write Paul pillar on the National\nInterest<\/em>. \u201cThis has required money\u2014lots of it. Five-figure speaking\nfees have flowed freely. Public disclosure forms indicate Bolton received\n$40,000 for a single appearance at an MEK event in Paris last year.\u201d [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Western Analysts agree that the MEK lacks the\ncapacity or support to overthrow the Iranian government. \u201cThey [the MKO\nsponsors in the US] are probably smart enough to know that this group is not\ndemocratic and anyway has no constituency inside Iran,\u201d Paul Pillar told the\nGuardian. \u201cTrump and his Iran hawks are not concerned with replacing the current\nregime so much as causing it to crumble. They are pursuing anything that would\ndisrupt the political order in Iran so they and the president can cite such an\noutcome as a supposed victory no matter what comes afterwards.\u201d [2]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pillar believes that the MKO has only the\ncapacity to commit violence, and is not able to change the government in Tehran\nas a democratic force. \u201cThey appear to be less interested in democracy in Iran\nthan in the capability for sabotage, destruction, and assassination in Iran\u2014a\ncapability that the MEK still has despite its claims to have forsaken\nviolence,\u201d he writes. [3]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Julia Kassem of the Geopolitics Alert also\nasserts that \u201cWashington\u2019s pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and\nsubsequently renewed sanctions come as US National Security Advisor appointee\nJohn Bolton\u2019s existential objective to destroy Iran by any means necessary even\nif it means leveraging the soft power of a cultish death squad.\u201d [4]<\/p>\n\n\n\n She suggests that Trump administration has\nmade large investments on the Iranian opposition groups. \u201cCongress had\npreviously allocated over $20 million for \u201cdemocracy promotion\u201d in Iran,\nfollowing accusations that Iran possessed nuclear weapons,\u201d she writes. \u201cIt was\nthe MEK that had given false and misleading information to US intelligence on\nIran\u2019s alleged possession of nuclear weapons in 2002, a year before the US\ndestabilized Iraq over accusations of \u201cweapons of mass destruction.\u201d This\npolemic, inspiring an odd part of then-president George W Bush\u2019s \u201cAxis of Evil\u201d\nspeech, is also solidified in MEK leader Maryam Rajavi 10-point plan. The last\npoint demands a \u201cnon-nuclear Iran,\u201d calls for the Islamic Republic be \u201cfree of\nweapons of mass destruction.\u201d [5]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Julia Kassem suggests that the double\nstandards of the West in dealing with terrorist groups including the MKO is\nshared with the entire NATO members. \u201cVarious NATO powers have hosted and given\nthe separatist groups coverage in attempts of strengthening support and ties\nwith the United States,\u201d she writes. \u201cThey Include France, where the MEK and\nits umbrella organization NCRI is based, Denmark and the Netherlands, housing\nArab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA), and Albania, where\na MEK camp, housing a training ground and even Twitter troll-farm, pumping out\nanti-government tweets and pro-Rajavi propaganda, is based.\u201d [6]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul pillar confirmed the US hypocrisy in an\ninterview with Tehran Times. \u201cIf the MEK is opposed to the current political\norder in Tehran, that\u2019s all that matters to the Trump administration,\u201d he said.\n[7]<\/p>\n\n\n\n He states that the removal of the MKO from\nthe US State Department Terrorist list has been part of the anti-Iran Policy.\n\u201cA rationale for removing the MEK from the U.S. terrorism list was that in\nrecent years the group has not been involved in killing Americans,\u201d he told\nTehran Times. \u201cThe law governing the list could be construed that way, although\nmore often, decisions on listing and delisting are not made from such a narrow\nperspective. A terrorist group is still a terrorist group even if the blood\nit spills is not American blood. The MEK certainly has been involved in\nlethal political violence since 2009.\u201d [8]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Western supporters should be warned that\nassociating with the MKO will increase Iranian`s hatred feelings toward the US.\nIranians will never forget the violent background of MEK in which thousands of\ninnocent people were massacred by this group. Therefore, US should not try to\nignore the terrorist nature of MEK and its cruel treatment towards its members.\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n By\u00a0 Mazda Parsi<\/p>\n\n\n\n References:<\/p>\n\n\n\n [1] Pillar, Paul, The MEK and the Bankrupt\nU.S. Policy on Iran, National Interest<\/em>, November 13, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [2] Merat, Arron, Terrorists, cultists \u2013 or champions of Iranian democracy? The wild wild story of the MEK, the Guardian<\/em>,November 9, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [3] Pillar, Paul, The MEK and the Bankrupt\nU.S. Policy on Iran, National Interest, November 13, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [4] Kassem, Julia (Samar), How the US Uses\nthe \u201cLeftist\u201d MEK Group for Soft Aggression against Iran, Geopolitics Alert, November\n27, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [5] ibid<\/p>\n\n\n\n [6] ibid<\/p>\n\n\n\n [7] Heirannia, Javad, MEK Sources of funds\nare Iran\u2019s regional rivals: ex-CIA official, Tehran Times<\/em>, December 1,\n2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [8] ibid<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The violent nature of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO\/ MEK\/ PMOI\/ the Cult of Rajavi) has always been the important issue of critics and arguments between journalists, analysts and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"module":[81],"ctype":[17],"blog":[3],"class_list":["post-8992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cult-rajavi","module-article","ctype-story","blog-nejat-bloggers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8992","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=8992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8992"},{"taxonomy":"module","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/module?post=8992"},{"taxonomy":"ctype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctype?post=8992"},{"taxonomy":"blog","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog?post=8992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}