Iran regime’s lobbies worried about MEK delisting in US

 Reza Fard

Simultaneous with state-run media in Iran and officials of the clerical regime, the lobbies of the Iranian regime have stepped up their activities to discredit the organized opposition to the Iranian regime, Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization of Iran (MEK or PMOI).

It appears that they are worried about imminent removal of the unjust terror label against the MEK following the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and flood of support for the MEK by former ranking officials in the United States.

Without presenting any logical reason and by branding the MEK as a violent movement, they claim that the removal of the MEK from the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist List in the U.S. will hurt the democratic opposition in Iran.

Before the MEK was removed from blacklists in Britain and the European Union, the Iranian regime’s lobbies and some foreign ministries advocating the policy of appeasement claimed that if the group was delisted it would lead to violence and therefore launched a widespread demonizing campaign to prevent it.

We are now facing the same situation in the U.S. where the State Department finds no legal or political justification to maintain the MEK in the FTO list and is bound to give in to the court ruling just as it happened in Europe where rule of law prevails. As delisting in Europe did not lead to any violence, no independent observer predicts that delisting in the US will lead to eruption of violence or encourage violence.

The advocates of the Iranian regime, who try to hide their true affiliation by posing as opponents of the clerical rule, vehemently claim that delisting of the MEK that is supposed to lead to violence will greatly benefit the regime because they always have the upper hand in waging violence like any totalitarian regime. In such circumstances, the regime’s lobbies claim that the indigenous democratic opposition will suffer, namely the Green movement. If that is really true, then why the regime is desperately trying to keep the MEK in the list and its media is filled with threats and abuses by various officials against the U.S. warning it not to remove the terror designation.

These advocates of the clerical dictatorship talk about democracy so passionately but totally forget that the main pillar of democracy and a democratic society is rule of law and justice. Against the ruling of the D.C. Court, they are pressing the Department of State to keep the MEK in the list. The court after scrutinizing all the evidence, including classified ones, presented by DOS concluded that terror listing was not justified and there was no reason to maintain the group in the list. These people must be under such influence of the clerical rule that think they are either living in Iran or the mullahs are in control of the US and they can just manipulate judicial system or ignore it altogether.

To complete their service to the mullahs, these lobbies come up with the idea that the MEK does not enjoy any support in Iran and therefore they should remain in the FTO list. This sounds totally insane and illogical and at the same time contrary to basic principles of democracy and freedom. The mullahs must be happy to see that their repressive and anti democratic policies are being well exported by these agents to the heart of Western democracy.

If these advocates of clerical dictatorship are truly worried about democracy and democratic movement in Iran why their main activities are against the MEK, “just an insignificant movement in Iran”, and not the Iranian regime that is currently suppressing Iranians and at the same time posing a threat to world peace and security?

Let me finish by leaving you with a concern raised by the Washington Post editorial on July 20: “The threat from Iran is not diminishing but growing. Where is the policy to reverse that alarming trend?” The answer certainly cannot be enchaining the regime’s legitimate opposition in the Western free and democratic world using unjust terror designation.