What Iran fears most

It may surprise most of you to learn, it is not the West Iran fears but the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK)" an Islamic socialist organization that advocates the overthrow of the Islamic Republic government of Iran.

Today it is the main organization in the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an "umbrella coalition" claiming the role of a parliament-in-exile dedicated to a democratic, secular and coalition government in Iran. The group has had thousands of its members for many years in bases in Iraq, but according to the British Broadcasting Corporation "they were disarmed in the wake of the US-led invasion and are said to have adhered to a ceasefire."

The People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI, NCRI) claim to be the first entities that revealed Iran's nuclear activities in 2002, which has turned to be a major concern for the US and some of its allies today. Recently on Feb 20, 2008, the NCRI claimed to have revealed another nuclear site of Islamic Republic. It is that Org. with help from French security that brought us the story of Iran seeking to obtain nuclear trigger technology.

In 1986, after French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac struck a deal with Tehran for the release of French hostages held prisoners by the Hezbollah in Lebanon, the PMOI was forced to leave France and relocated in Iraq. Investigative journalist Dominique Lorentz has related the 1986 capture of French hostages to an alleged blackmail of France by Tehran concerning the nuclear program.
A large number of prisoners from the PMOI, and a lesser number from other leftist opposition groups (somewhere between 1,400 and 30,000), were executed in 1988, following Operation Eternal Light. Dissident Ayatollah Montazeri has written in his memoirs that this massacre, deemed a crime against humanity, was ordered by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and carried out by several high-ranking members of Iran's current government. it was then the "MEK" developed its alliance with Saddam Hussein and established permanent bases in Iraq.

On January 23, 2009, and while on a visit to Tehran, Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie re-iterated the Iraqi Prime Minister’s earlier announcement that the MEK organisation will no longer be able to base itself on Iraqi soil and stated that the members of the Organisation will have to make a choice, either to go back to Iran or to go to a third country, adding that these measures will be implemented over the next two months.

Tehran attempted to negotiate with Washington DC, proposing to withdraw military backing for Hamas and Hezbollah as well as give open access to their nuclear facilities in return for Western action in disbanding the PMOI, which was revealed by Newsnight, a BBC current affairs program, in 2007. The BBC uncovered a letter written after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 where Tehran made this offer The proposition was done in a secret letter given to Washington through Switzerland's help. According to the BBC and to what had been understood by the US State Department, the letter had received authorization from the highest levels of the Iranian government. According to Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff of State secretary Colin Powell, interviewed by the BBC, the State Dept would first have positively considered the offer. But it would ultimately have been rejected by the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Currently the Bulgarian Army is in charge of Camp Ashraf, a camp established for the PMOI personnel in Ashraf to be protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Iran's biggest fear is not the west, their just angry we refused to disband the PMOI and MEK. No they fear at this time we'll simply release an estimated 14,000 highly trained and heavily armed MEK members and turn them lose on Iran. given Iran's quest for nuclear weapons I think we should!

1988 Executions
Camp Ahhraf
BBC News
RESISTANCE GROUP CLAIMS EVIDENCE OF IRANIAN BOMB AMBITIONS
BBC: Washington 'snubbed Iran offer'

The most recent news From the "Tehran Times Newspaper" BTW MKO is yet another name for the MEK

The Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) has acknowledged that it played a role in Sunday's violent anti-government protests in Iran.


MKO followers cooperated with the demonstrators and coordinated the protests, the organization's leader Maryam Rajavi told AFP in Paris on Tuesday.

Rajavi also urged unity among those bent on overthrowing the Leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

""It's a call for solidarity among all those who reject the rule of the supreme leader, the Velayat e-Faqih,"" she told AFP in Paris.

""What we call the 'Green movement' against the electoral fraud quickly disappeared to be replaced by a deeper movement whose goal is the total overthrow of the regime,"" she claimed.

The MKO leader also predicted that the government of Iran would fall within 12 months if foreign powers remain neutral.

Full story here

reply to post by DaddyBare


The plot thickens. This is from a couple of days ago. My only question is when will the Iranian Government finally MAN-UP and admit their own faults.?


SPIN SPIN SPIN
Iran blames PMOI for Mousavi death

TEHRAN, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The dissident People's Mujahedin of Iran is responsible for the assassination of the nephew of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, officials said.

Demonstrations in Iran on the Shiite holy day of Ashura turned violent as supporters of the opposition movement clashed with security forces and set fire to a local police station.

Iran puts the official death toll from the weekend unrest at eight, while opposition Web sites claim as many as 12 died in the weekend demonstrations.

FACTBOX: Who are the People's Mujahideen of Iran?

* ORIGINS:

-- The People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI) -- also known as the Mujahideen Khalq Organisation (MKO) -- is the main faction within the exiled opposition umbrella organisation, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

-- The PMOI, which has had bases in Iraq since the 1980s, began as a group of Islamist leftists opposed to Iran's late Shah but fell out with Shi'ite clerics who took power after the 1979 revolution.

-- The NCRI in 2002 exposed Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and a heavy water plant at Arak, which the West say are key elements in Iran's plan to build nuclear weapons. Tehran denies having any such ambitions.

-- The PMOI's leader, Massoud Rajavi, has not been seen for years. His wife, Maryam Rajavi, has been named by NCRI as Iran's president-elect.

-- The group was one of the largest factions immediately after the 1979 revolution. But diplomats and analysts say it is difficult to determine the level of support for the group now inside Iran, where many Iranians cannot forgive it for siding with Saddam Hussein during Iran's war with Iraq in the 1980s.

* KEY EVENTS:

-- The U.S. State Department has said the PMOI assassinated at least six U.S. citizens as part of the struggle to overthrow the Shah, backed the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran and opposed freeing U.S. hostages. The U.S. government designated the PMOI a "terrorist" organisation in 1997.

-- In the 1980s, the group's leaders fled to France and also collaborated with Iraq during the 1980-88 war with Iran.

-- In April 1992, the PMOI carried out attacks on 13 Iranian embassies around the world, causing significant damage.

-- In February 2000, the group launched a mortar attack against a complex in Tehran that housed the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the ultimate authority in Iran, and then president Mohammad Khatami.

--In December 2007 the NCRI said Iran had shut down its programme in 2003 but restarted it a year later.

-- In Jan 2009 European states agreed to remove the exiled PMOI from an EU list of banned terrorist groups.

-- Tens of thousands of NCRI supporters rallied outside Paris last June to denounce the government in Tehran and the June 12 disputed presidential election in Iran.

-- Last September the NCRI said that it had identified two previously unknown sites where it said Iran was working on developing high-explosive detonators for use in atomic bombs. The group said that the sites were part of a unit affiliated with Iran's ministry of defence called "Research Centre for Explosion and Impact," known under its Farsi language abbreviation Metfaz. The NCRI's information could not be verified.

* EXILE IN IRAQ:

-- The U.S.-led coalition aircraft bombed PMOI bases during the invasion of Iraq. U.S. forces declared the exiles "protected persons" after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

-- Iraq said this month it wanted the 3,500 or so Iranian opposition exiles based at Camp Ashraf north of Baghdad to leave the country. Iraqi forces took over responsibility for the camp on January 1 from U.S. troops, who had been guarding it.

reply to post by DaddyBare


The involvement of the MKO is significant, but the problems with this are that using violence to protest gives the regime an opportunity to use more extreme force in retaliation leading to an escalation using heavier armour (note the extra troops & riot vehicles in Tehran supposedly). This may not be too bad if the MKO are a decent fighting force, but if not it will lead civilians into a conflict and possibly a civil war of epic proportions that they just aren't equiped for. And the regular Iranian army and airforce may be less inclined to help civilians if the regime can convince them that all protestors are MKO.

But it's too late for anyone to change this current path, and wherever it leads we'll have to see. It may even turn out quite well.



[edit on 2-1-2010 by john124]

reply to post by SLAYER69

two things, no one familiar with Iran's history would ever believe the PMOI is responsible for Mousavi death....

Just so you have it the link to the opposition website is www.rahesabz.net... they call themselves the "Green Movement" right now their urging all their members to watch this new video

In the eleventh episode of The Week in Green, Dr. Moshen Kadivar, visiting professor at Duke University, discusses the views of the late Ayatollah Montazeri and the evolution of velayet-e faqih (the rule of the religious jurist).
The eleventh week program green Hamid Dabashi, doctor Mohsen Kadivar guest professor at Duke University in the late comment Ytallh Montazeri ideas about the emergence and evolution of the province are the supreme leader dialogue.

Watch it, they go into detail how the Government is fighting a losing battle

reply to post by john124


There not as rag tag as you would think...
The last time I was at FOB Dreamland (Feb 2008) in Fallujah there in camp were parked 19 British-made Chieftain tanks... Property of the MEK, AKA MKO... there are also warehouses full of modern state of the art weapons all being held as part of the ceasefire agreement with the POMI...
As I said we wouldn’t have to do anything other than give them back there equipment and let them go do their thing…
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1abb994d0c6f.jpg[/atsimg]

[edit on 2-1-2010 by DaddyBare]

Originally posted by SLAYER69

The plot thickens. This is from a couple of days ago. My only question is when will the Iranian Government finally MAN-UP and admit their own faults.?

The day after never, mate.

[edit on 2-1-2010 by mckyle]

reply to post by DaddyBare

dedicated to a democratic, secular and coalition government in Iran.

So is the MKO also dedicated to these political and religious values? Where are they in the Shiite/ Sunni opposition I wonder?

reply to post by plumranch


I don’t honestly know a whole lot about the inner working of the PMOI... I know the US sees them as a Marxist Origination and they are officially listed as a terrorist group by the state department...

I'm just guessing but under Marxist doctrine Shiite/Sunni disputes would be mot wouldn’t they?

Originally posted by DaddyBare
reply to post by plumranch

 

I don’t honestly know a whole lot about the inner working of the PMOI... I know the US sees them as a Marxist Origination and they are officially listed as a terrorist group by the state department...

As you pointed out DB, officially, the PMOI is listed by the US as a terrorist orgnisation. Nevertheless, they do enjoy a great deal of Congressional support on both sides of the political spectrum.

Originally posted by DaddyBare
I'm just guessing but under Marxist doctrine Shiite/Sunni disputes would be mot wouldn’t they?

You're quite right. Apart from basing their ideology in part on secular government, they espouse tolerance for all religious beliefs.

[edit on 2-1-2010 by mckyle]

The NCRI made an offical statement today

NCRI - The Iranian Resistance warns about the wave of killing of those detained during the uprising and sympathizers of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) under the rubric of “Moharebeh” (waging war against God).

The Iranian Resistance warns about the cruel killing of a large number of those detained during the uprisings as well as political prisoners, and calls on the United Nations Secretary General, Security Council, High Commissioner for Human Rights, and other relevant international organs, to condemn the cruel human rights abuses committed by the clerical regime, which are a disgrace in the contemporary world. The Iranian Resistance also demands the adoption of binding measures against the regime, including the suspension of economic and political ties until all political prisoners in Iran have been freed, and until torture, hangings, and suppression in Iran have been completely ceased.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
January 2, 2010

reply to post by DaddyBare

I'm just guessing but under Marxist doctrine Shiite/Sunni disputes would be mot wouldn’t they?

Since NCRI is a coalition, my guess is that they would like to set up something pro Shiite, Muslim based, quasi Socialist, democratic in principle only, and military based. Probably a lot of mullahs and former military leaders would get the bullet.

reply to post by SLAYER69


fill me in.

Can the US really support this organization if it succeeded in its goal or is the US just picking the best of the two devils?

reply to post by jam321


I would venture to say this is a case of... the Enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend... If coalition forces thought the MEK could be trusted they wouldn’t still be unarmed and confined to the three of four camps there in Iraq.

but since they are useful as a wild card the US isn’t about to just disband them... someday soon however someone will have to make that decision to let them go or????

Just to update this thread;

NCRI - Akbar Saremi, a resident of Camp Ashraf in Iraq and the son of Ali Saremi, a political prisoner sentenced to death by the Iranian regime, gave an account of his father’s situation in an interview with Voice of America TV on January 4. Ali Saremi was arrested for attending a ceremony honoring the massacre of political prisoners in 1988 in Iran. He has been sentenced to death by the regime.

Read the interview here

The mujahedin is nothing else but a false promise. It is just a programme set up to further 'incrimate' the Iranian government in the eyes of the Iranian youth who have fled Iran, or who's parents fled Iran.

The leaders of the Mujahedin, you will see their pictures on sticks and posters in demonstrations, are cowards, like any other politician.


Take this as the most accurate information you can get of them. They are a play. An act. Just to keep the 'patriotic' Iranians busy. Or worse, to get them in deep #, like camp Ashraf.

god bless the souls of every one of them, even the mislead ones, because what they do is out of ignorance and we cannot hold them accountable for being ignorant.