Iran's Long-exiled Prince Wants a Revolution in Age of Trump
April 10, 2017 09:37 PM
https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/irans-long-exiled-prince-wants-revolution-age-trump
Iran's long-exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi speaks during an interview at the Associated Press bureau in Washington, April 6, 2017.
Iran's long-exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi speaks during an interview at the Associated Press bureau in Washington, April 6, 2017.
Iran's exiled crown prince wants a revolution.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah to rule before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has seen his profile rise in recent months following the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, who promises a harder line against the Shi'ite power.
Pahlavi's calls for replacing clerical rule with a parliamentary monarchy, enshrining human rights and modernizing its state-run economy could prove palatable to both the West and Iran's Sunni Gulf neighbors, who remain suspicious of Iran's intentions amid its involvement in the wars in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
But the Mideast is replete with cautionary tales about Western governments putting their faith in exiles long estranged from their homelands. Whether Pahlavi can galvanize nostalgia for the age of the Peacock Throne remains unseen.
"This regime is simply irreformable because the nature of it, its DNA, is such that it cannot," Pahlavi told The Associated Press. "People have given up with the idea of reform and they think there has to be fundamental change. Now, how this change can occur is the big question."
Pahlavi left Iran at age 17 for military flight school in the U.S., just before his cancer-stricken father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi abandoned the throne for exile. The revolution followed, with the creation of the Islamic Republic, the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the sweeping away of the last vestiges of the American-backed monarchy.
Yet the Pahlavis and the age of the monarchy have retained their mystique in Iran, even as the majority of its 80 million people weren't alive to experience it. Television period pieces have focused on their rule, including the recent state TV series The Enigma of the Shah, the most expensive series ever produced to air in the country. While incorporating romances or mobsters into the tales, all uniformly criticize the royal court.
AP Shah of Iran inaugural speech
AP Shah of Iran inaugural speech
FILE - The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, reads his inaugural speech at the initial session of his nation's first senate in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 16, 1950.
Alleged longing for past
But Pahlavi, 56, insists young Iranians increasingly look toward Iran's past. He pointed to recent demonstrations at the tomb of the pre-Islamic King Cyrus the Great, which have been claimed by a variety of anti-government forces as a sign of unrest. Under his father's secular and pro-Western rule, Iran experienced a rapid modernization program financed by oil revenues.
"If you look at the legacy that was left behind by both my father and my grandfather ... it contrasts with this archaic, sort of backward, religiously rooted radical system that has been extremely repressive," Pahlavi said.
Since the U.S. election, Pahlavi has given a growing number of media interviews, including with Breitbart, the website once run by Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon. Pahlavi also has sent letters to the Trump administration.
Gauging national sentiment toward restoring the monarchy in Iran is impossible, especially after the crackdown that followed the country's disputed 2009 election. Iranian state media routinely refer to the Pahlavi monarchy as "despotic," but there has been some reassessing of history in other quarters.
A book published last year, The Fall of Heaven: The Pahlavis and the Last Days of Imperial Iran, offered a revisionist view of the shah. While acknowledging the abuses of his feared SAVAK intelligence service and the corruption surrounding his rule, the book portrays him as a fatalist in an era of disappearing Mideast monarchies.
"The regime has repressed discussion of the Pahlavis for so long that it has had the opposite effect of making young Iranians inside the country curious about what they don't know," said historian Andrew Scott Cooper, the book's author. "There's an interesting generational divide going on here to where young Iranians are saying to their parents and grandparents, the same people who marched against the shah and Pahlavis, 'Why did you get rid of that system and put this one in place?'"
He added: "The family name still retains a lot of magic, more than ever today among Iranians. How that translates practically into support for Reza as a credible alternative leader, I just don't know."
Iran Revolution Anniversary Rally US
Iran Revolution Anniversary Rally US
FILE - Iranians carry a banner showing a caricature of U.S. President Donald Trump during an annual rally commemorating the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, which toppled the late pro-U.S. Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 10, 2017.
Key to revolution: No Western interference
Asked how his envisioned peaceful revolution could play out in Iran, Pahlavi said it would need to begin with labor unions starting a nationwide strike. He said members of the hard-line Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary organization established to protect the clerical system, would be assured they wouldn't be "all hung and shot."
Most importantly, he said Western governments need to keep their distance and not threaten military action.
That's an exceedingly optimistic vision, especially considering the amount of power the Guard and other hard-liners wield in Iran's economy. It also largely ignores the concerns many in Iran have about Western meddling. Pahlavi's father took power following a 1953 coup engineered by Britain and the U.S.
Pahlavi, who still resides in the U.S., said he hasn't had any "side occupation" since 1979, and has received financial support from his family and "many Iranians who have supported the cause."
"My focus right now is on liberating Iran, and I will find any means that I can, without compromising the national interests and independence, with anyone who is willing to give us a hand, whether it is the U.S. or the Saudis or the Israelis or whomever it is," he said.
Pahlavi said he had yet to meet with the Trump administration despite his letters. Another Iranian exile group, the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, previously paid a member of Trump's Cabinet $50,000 for giving a speech. However, the MEK's siding with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and its killing of Americans before the revolution, which the group now denies, makes it an unsuitable partner, Pahlavi said.
"It's pretty much a cult-type structure," he said.
For now, Pahlavi said he looks forward to meeting with Trump and his administration. But he pins his hopes on Iran's sense of history, something Cooper also acknowledged.
"For many Iranians, the revolution is unfinished business," the author said.
See Part 2 >
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22091476? ago
Holy crap Fantastic.
22091678? ago
Yeah I liked it too. <
I am starting to see all the connections to Iran and lots of other people.
Iran is a very important country indeed, and Israel can't be freed until the regime in Iran has been dealt with.
There will be no war with Iran. This is all just Kabuki Theater, otherwise Trump would have smashed the living daylights out of Iran by now.
These bloodlines are critical. They all connect, and lifting the veil means exposing them.
Thanks for your kind reply.
<
22090770? ago
Part 5 >
The [P] > Double and even triple meanings exist >
Does [P] = Payseur Family, an Old Bloodline of the Cabal?
Q
!!mG7VJxZNCI
29 Aug 2018 - 9:33:25 AM
Anonymous
29 Aug 2018 - 9:32:30 AM
Hey Q
Does P= Payseur ?
When Do we start seeing the Pain…
WWG1WGA MAGA
And >
1254
Reread Iran is Next (Marker)
Q
!xowAT4Z3VQ
25 Apr 2018 - 1:27:03 AM
Iran is next.
[Marker].
Re_read.
POTUS today.
“Mark it down.”
“Bigger problems than ever before.”
SIG to Iran?
CLAS - Sec 11A P 2.2 [important]
Refers to more than continued payments of $250B.
IRON EAGLE.
Sweet Dreams.
Q
And >
1241
Reminder Iran is Next Marker
Q
!xowAT4Z3VQ
24 Apr 2018 - 3:56:57 AM
Reminder.
Iran is next.
Marker.
CLAS - Sec 11A P 2.2.
“Installments.”
$250B.
Jan 1.
Jun 1.
No inspection @ GZ NR sites.
No missile tech prevention.
Load carrying.
ICBM.
Think NK.
Who controls the $?
Who really controls the $?
Why does the EU have a vested interest in this deal?
Who receives the money?
When the US sends billions in aid and/or climate and/or etc who or what entity audits / tracks to confirm intended recipient(s) rec?
None.
How does GS fund WW counter-events?
Who funds WW leftist events?
American taxpayer (subsidize).
Define nuclear stand-off.
Who benefits?
How do you ‘squeeze’ funds out of the US?
Threat to humanity?
Environment push?
Think Paris accord.
Who audits / tracks the funneled money?
Define kickback.
Define slush fund.
EPA.
No oversight re: Hussein.
Why?
How does the C_A fund non sanctioned ops?
Off the books?
Re_ read past drops.
Will become relevant.
Welcome Mr. President.
The U.S. will NOT agree to continue the Iran deal as it currently stands.
Q
998
Chair of Peter Serves the Master
Q
!xowAT4Z3VQ
4 Apr 2018 - 10:49:59 AM
Anonymous
4 Apr 2018 - 10:48:54 AM
8beaf1747602f509fcc1276e19c28fe2eeccc147fb1eda6021dc031870c1b811.png
HOLY SHIT
Tell us, Q. How many are connected to (((roths)))?
And >
714
Q Threat to Clowns
Q
!UW.yye1fxo
10 Feb 2018 - 9:46:19 PM
Mess with the best, die like the rest.
[2] highly classified clown ops exposed.
[44] remaining.
Wizards & Warlocks.
Save the best for last.
[P]
Q
And >
416
Soros Takes Orders from P
Anonymous
22 Dec 2017 - 12:31:58 PM
Soros takes orders from P.
You have no idea how sick and evil these people are.
Fight, fight, fight.
Day of days.
Game over.
Q
299
Rothschilds Cult Leaders
Q
!ITPb.qbhqo
8 Dec 2017 - 2:05:16 PM
Rothschilds (cult leaders)(church)(P)
Banks / Financial Institutions
WW Gov Control
Gov Controls People
SA
Oil Tech Sex/Children
SA Controls (assigned) US / UK Politicians / Tech Co's (primary)
Soros
Controls organizations of people (create division / brainwash) + management / operator of slush funds (personal net worth never reduces think DOJ settlements Consumer Iran Enviro pacts etc etc)
/_\ - Rock (past)(auth over followers)
_\ (present)
(Future)
Order is critical.
Strings cut to US/UK.
Expand your thinking.
Swamp drain.
1 - sexual harassment exit + future
….
[R] - No.
Bomb away.
Q
128
Graphic is Necessary and Vital
Q
!ITPb.qbhqo
10 Nov 2017 - 3:07:15 PM
1510107905656.jpg
Trip added.
[C]oordinated effort to misdirect.
Guide to reading the crumbs necessary to cont[I]nue.
Attached gr[A]phic is correct.
Linked graphics are incorrect and false.
Graphic is necessary and vital.
Time stamp(s) and order [is] critical.
Re-review graphic (in full) each day post news release.
Learn to distinguish between relevant/non-relevant news.
Disinformation is real.
Disinformation is necessary.
Ex: US ML NG (1) False SA True
Why was this necessary?
What questions were asked re: SA prior to SA events?
Why is this relevant?
Think mirror.
Look there, or [here], or there, truth is behind you.
What is a map?
Why is a map useful?
What is a legend?
Why is a legend useful?
What is a sequence?
Why is this relevant?
When does a map become a guide?
What is a keystone?
Everything stated is relevant.
Everything.
Future provides past.
Map provides picture.
Picture provides 40,000ft. v.
40,000ft. v. is classified.
Why is a map useful?
Think direction.
Think full picture.
Who controls the narrative?
Why is this relevant?
What is a spell?
Who is asleep?
Dissemination.
Attention on deck.
There is an active war on your mind.
Be [p]repared.
Ope[r]ations underway.
Operators [a]ctive.
Graphic is essential.
Find the ke[y]stone.
Moves and countermoves.
They never thought she would lose.
Snow white.
Godfather III.
Iron Eagle.
Q
And >
Huma Abedin & Muslim Brotherhood
56
Anonymous
3 Nov 2017 - 7:39:22 AM
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/292310-huma-abedins-ties-to-the-muslim-brotherhood
The Clinton campaign is attempting once again to sweep important questions under the rug about top aide Huma Abedin, her family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and to Saudi Arabia, and her role in the ballooning Clinton email scandal.
Her mother, Saleha Abedin, sits on the Presidency Staff Council of the International Islamic Council for Da’wa and Relief, a group that is chaired by the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
Perhaps recognizing how offensive such ties will be to voters concerned over future terrorist attacks on this country by radical Muslims professing allegiance to Sharia law, the Clinton campaign on Monday tried to downplay Ms. Abedin’s involvement in the Journal and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Clinton surrogate group Media Matters claimed predictably there was “no evidence” that Ms. Abedin or her family had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and that Trump campaign staffers who spoke of these ties were conspiracy theorists.
To debunk the evidence, Media Matters pointed to a Snopes.com “fact-check” piece that cited as its sole source… Senator John McCain. This is the same John McCain who met Libyan militia leader Abdelkarim Belhaj, a known al Qaeda associate, and saluted him as “my hero” during a 2011 visit to Benghazi.
Senator McCain and others roundly criticized Rep. Michele Bachmann in 2012 when she and four members of the House Permanent Select Committee Intelligence and the House Judiciary Committee cited Ms. Abedin in letters sent to the Inspectors General of the Department of Defense, Department of State, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, warning about Muslim Brotherhood infiltration of the United States government.
Why is this relevant?
Who took an undisclosed trip to SA?
What was the purpose of a f2f v phone call?
Alice & Wonderland.
END
22090762? ago
Part 4 >
MEK was founded in the 1960s by a group of college-educated Iranian leftists opposed to the country's pro-Western ruler, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Although the group took part in the 1979 Islamic revolution that replaced the shah with a Shiite Islamist regime, MEK's ideology, a blend of Marxism and Islamism, put it at odds with the postrevolutionary government. In 1981, the group was driven from its bases on the Iran-Iraq border and resettled in Paris, where it began supporting Iraq in its eight-year war against Khomeini's Iran. In 1986, MEK moved its headquarters to Iraq where it received its primary support to attack the regime in Iran. During the 2003 Iraq war, U.S. forces cracked down on MEK's bases in Iraq, and in June 2003 French authorities raided an MEK compound outside Paris and arrested 160 people, including Maryam Rajavi.
Activities
According to Iran, out of the nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist assaults since the victory of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, about 12,000 had fallen victim to MKO’s terrorist attacks.
The group targeted Iranian government officials and government facilities in Iran and abroad; during the 1970s, it attacked Americans in Iran. MEK’s past acts of terrorism included its involvement in the killing of U.S. citizens in Iran in the 1970s and an attack on U.S. soil in 1992. While the group says it does not intentionally target civilians, it has often risked civilian casualties. It routinely aims its attacks at government buildings in crowded cities. MEK terrorism has declined since late 2001. Incidents linked to the group include:
In the early 1970s, angered by US support for the pro-Western shah, MEK members killed several US soldiers and civilians working on defense projects in Iran. Some experts said the attack may have been the work of a Maoist splinter faction operating beyond the Rajavi leadership's control. MEK members also supported the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran, in which 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days.
Strength
MEK was believed to have several thousand members, one-third to one-half of whom are fighters. MEK activities have dropped off in recent years as its membership has dwindled.
Location/Area of Operation
The group's armed unit operated from camps in Iraq near the Iran border since 1986. During the Iraq war, US troops disarmed MEK and posted guards at its bases. In addition to its Paris-based members, MEK has a network of sympathizers in Europe, the United States, and Canada. The group's political arm, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, maintains offices in several capitals, including Washington, DC.
External Aid
When Saddam Hussein was in power, MEK received the majority of its financial support from the Iraqi regime. It also used front organizations, such as the Muslim Iranian Student's Society, to collect money from expatriate Iranians and others, according to the State Department's counterterrorism office. Iraq was MEK's primary benefactor. Iraq provided MEK with bases, weapons, and protection, and MEK harassed Saddam's Iranian foes. MEK's attacks on Iran traditionally intensified when relations between Iran and Iraq grew strained. Iraq encouraged or restrained MEK, depending on Baghdad's interests.
Leadership
Maryam Rajavi is MEK's principal leader; her husband, Massoud Rajavi, head up the group's military forces. Maryam Rajavi, born in 1953 to an upper-middleclass Iranian family, joined MEK as a student in Tehran in the early 1970s. After relocating with the group to Paris in 1981, she was elected its joint leader and later became deputy commander-in-chief of its armed wing.
Massoud Rajavi was last known to be living in Iraq, but authorities aren't certain of his whereabouts or whether he is alive. The last time Rajavi was heard of was in 2003 when he issued a statement on Ashura Day. After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the coincident disappearance of Massoud Rajavi, many criticized him for leaving his members in danger and escaping to save his own life. In 2009 MEK members exchanged text messages with someone claiming to be MEK leader Massoud Rajavi, who had not been seen since the Coalition Forces (CF) invasion of Iraq in 2003. Some said he was detained in a cell adjacent to that of late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein while others said he is under house arrest in Iraq. There were also reports that he was at the U.S. Naval Forces 5th fleet in Bahrain and that he was seen at the U.S. Army headquarters in Qatar. He was also rumored several times to have been arrested by Jordanian security. Unconfirmed news from several sources in Tehran reported 26 August 2010 the death of Massoud Rajavi. The news of the death of Massoud Rajavi was first posted on the website of reformist leader Dr. Mehdi Khazali.
In an 07 October 2015 hearing before the US Senate committee on Armed Forces titled” Iranian Influence in Iraq and the case of Camp Liberty”, prominent MKO lobbyist, retired Colonel Wesley Martin pretended to be informed about the proper answer. He claimed that Rajavi was wounded in an attack and he was in France.
See Part 5 >
22090757? ago
Part 3 >
It was reported on 21 September 2012, that the US State Department was preparing to remove the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization from the list of organizations recognized as terrorist groups by the United States. On 28 September 2012, the US State Department formally announced that it had delisted the organization as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224. The decision took into account the MEK's public renunciation of violence, the absence of confirmed acts of terrorism by the MEK for more than a decade, and their cooperation in the peaceful closure of Camp Ashraf, their historic paramilitary base. On September 28, 2012 the Secretary of State decided, consistent with the law, to revoke the designation of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and its aliases as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under the Immigration and Nationality Act and to delist the MEK as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224. Property and interests in property in the United States or within the possession or control of U.S. persons will no longer be blocked, and U.S. entities may engage in transactions with the MEK without obtaining a license.
The United States consistently maintained a humanitarian interest in seeking the safe, secure, and humane resolution of the situation at Camp Ashraf, as well as in supporting the United Nations-led efforts to relocate eligible former Ashraf residents outside of Iraq.
By the end of 2013 the UN reported a population of 1,957 persons in Camp Hurriya. Authorities relocated 1,119 residents of Camp Hurriya to foreign countries, either independently (63 individuals) or through the UNHCR relocation program (1,056 individuals). The majority of relocations were to Albania.
According to AI, a Shia militia, the al-Mukhtar Army, claimed responsibility for an 29 October 2013 rocket attack on Camp Hurriya that killed at least 24 residents. Government authorities responded to the attack by providing emergency services and doctors to the camp. On September 21, a militia group also attacked residents of the camp and killed three Iraqi security personnel. There continued to be no information on the whereabouts of seven Mujahedin-e-Khalq members abducted from Camp Ashraf in 2013.
Many members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq were still interned at Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty in Iraq as they awaited countries to take them as refugees. By 2014 the UN had appointed a special representative to seek relocation opportunities for this group.
The residents have come under attack several times since their relocation to Camp Liberty/Hurriya. Iraqi forces who bear responsibility for guarding the camp have failed to protect its residents from repeated attacks. The number of dead passed 20 as a result of the extensive missile attack on Camp Liberty in Iraq on 29 October 2015 against the Iranian dissidents where 2,400 members of the MEK resided. Some of the missiles used were Falaq missiles produced by the Iranian regime. As many as 80 missiles were fired at Camp Liberty and holes as deep as 7 feet and as wide as 12 feet are created. Over 140 residents have died as a result of the attacks, 7 have been abducted, and more than 1,300 wounded by early 2016.
Groups affiliated with the Iranian regime's Revolutionary Guard Qods Force have claimed responsibility for attacks and warned that more would follow if the residents did not leave Iraq. Iraqi security forces are permanently stationed around Camp Liberty/Hurriya, despite their past violence against the unarmed residents. The security of Camp Liberty/Hurriya is clearly inadequate to protect the residents from armed assault and rocket attack.
By 2016 approximately 2,000 unarmed members of the Iranian opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) resided in Camp Liberty/Hurriya awaiting resettlement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which has recognized them as "persons of concern" and "in need of international protection".
Some officials from the Trump administration have received money from the anti-Iran Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) to deliver speeches in support of the group. Trump’s transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, received $50,000 in 2015 for a five-minute speech to the political wing of the MKO. In March 2016, Chao received another $17,500 for a speech that she gave to the Iranian-American Cultural Association of Missouri, which reportedly has ties with the MKO terrorist group. Chao is the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Former mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani, who is also likely to get a post in the Trump administration, has also acknowledged that he has been paid by the MKO for his appearances at the terrorist group’s events.
Description
Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) is the largest and most militant group opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Also known as the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, MEK is led by husband and wife Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. MEK was added to the U.S. State Department's list of foreign terrorist groups in 1997.
See Part 4 >
22090747? ago
Part 2 >
Leads into MEK, Iran and Kerry >
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/mek.htm
Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK or MKO)
National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA)
People's Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI)
National Council of Resistance (NCR)
National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
Muslim Iranian Student's Society
US Secretary of State John Kerry used a visit to Albania on February 14, 2016 to thank the government for resettling members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedin e Khalq, or MEK. Over the previous two years, Albania had taken in about 1,000 members of the MEK and had committed to resettling an additional 2,000, said a senior State Department official. Most lived in US-backed camps in Iraq. The US assistance included a donation of $20 million to the UN refugee agency to help resettle the MEK, said the State Department official. The US also provided Albania with security and economic development assistance, to help the country build up its physical capacity to house the refugees.
The United States, which listed National Council of Resistance of Iran as a terrorist organization, closed the NCRI's Washington office in 2003. The fall of Saddam Hussein's regime affected the circumstances of the designated foreign terrorist organization Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The MEK was allied with the Iraqi regime and received most of its support from it. The MEK assisted the Hussein regime in suppressing opposition within Iraq, and performed internal security for the Iraqi regime. The National Liberation Army was the military wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
A former high-ranking MEK official confirmed long-held suspicions that Saudi Arabia has been financing the political-militant group bent on violent regime change in Iran through sophisticated channels to provide the group with valuables like gold and Rolex watches, according to a new report. In an interview with Jordanian news outlet Al-Bawaba 19 Deptember 2018, a former MEK member who oversaw the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of materials explained how the group has stayed financially afloat.
Massoud Khodabandeh explained that 3 tons of solid gold, a minimum of four suitcases of customized Rolex watches and fabric that had been used to cover the Muslim holy site of Kaaba in Mecca were among the commodities shipped from Saudi Arabia to MEK operatives in Baghdad as part of the scheme. From there, the valuables would be sold on the black market in Jordan's capital, Amman, to Saudi-aligned merchants.
The Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK also known as PMOI, MKO, NCRI, Muslim Iranian Students, Society, Organization of the People,s Holy Warriors of Iran, the National Liberation Army, Sazeman-e Mujahideen-e Khalq Iran) has used a number of names, or front organizations.
The MEK has a history that does go back to the time of the Shah in the 1970s. It was a group that propounded an ideology that mixed Islamism and Marxism. And, among their earliest operations were lethal operations against US personnel, including US military personnel, in Iran. In the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the MEK backed Ayatollah Khomeini and the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. By 1981, however, the MEK split with the cleric-based regime, launching a bombing campaign that killed Iran's president and prime minister. Then, its leadership fled to Europe.
The MEK sided with Iraq in its 1980-1988 war with Iran. In 1986, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein set up an enclave called Camp Ashraf for the group north of Baghdad. In 1991, MEK forces allegedly assisted Saddam in putting down uprisings by the Kurds in Iraq's north, and the Shi'ites in the south. Then, in April 1992, the MEK attacked Iranian embassies and facilities in 13 countries. In 1997, a new U.S. law put the MEK and 29 other groups on the Foreign Terrorist Organization list. Britain and the European Union also put the MEK on terrorist lists.
Then, in 2002, the group said it had uncovered Iranian nuclear facilities at Natanz and elsewhere. The next year, U.S. and coalition forces toppled Saddam Hussein.
By 2004 Mujahedin-e-Khalq [MEK] facilities in Iraq included
On 10 May 2003 V Corps accepted the voluntary consolidation of the Mujahedin-E-Khalq's forces, and subsequent control over those forces. This process is expected to take several days to complete. Previously, V Corps was monitoring a cease-fire brokered between the MEK and Special Forces elements. The MEK forces had been abiding by the terms of this agreement and are cooperating with Coalition soldiers.
By mid-May 2003 Coalition forces had consolidated 2,139 tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery pieces, air defense artillery pieces and miscellaneous vehicles formerly in the possession of the Mujahedin-E Khalq (MEK) forces. The 4th Infantry Division also reported they have destroyed most of the MEK munitions and caches. The voluntary, peaceful resolution of this process by the MEK and the Coalition significantly contributed to the Coalition's mission to establish a safe and secure environment for the people of Iraq.
The 4,000 MEK members in the Camp Ashraf former Mujahedeen base were consolidated, detained, disarmed and were screened for any past terrorist acts. These residents opposed the clerical regime in Tehran and, as a result of that opposition, lived in constant danger of attack from pro-Iranian forces.
In 2004, the United States recognized the residents as "protected persons" under the Fourth Geneva Convention and pledged to protect the residents until their final disposition. The United States turned over control and responsibility of the residents to the Government of Iraq in early 2009, as reflected in the United States Embassy Statement on Transfer of Security Responsibility for Camp Ashraf of December 28, 2008.
In July 2008, the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) petitioned the Department for a revocation of its designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). A petitioning organization must provide evidence that the relevant circumstances are sufficiently different from the circumstances that were the basis for the designation such that a revocation with respect to the organization is warranted.
The Secretary determined on January 7, 2009 that the FTO designation of the MEK will be maintained. The Secretary found that the MEK remained a foreign organization that retained the capability and intent to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism.
The Secretary's determination to maintain the MEK's FTO designation did not alter the status under U.S. law of the individuals at Camp Ashraf.
The 3,400 residents of Camp Ashraf lived communally (males and females separately), supported by light manufacturing and donations from abroad. They claimed to have turned over all their arms to US forces in 2003, and their camp 60 miles from Baghdad looks more like a relatively affluent Iraqi village than a military garrison. However, until the end of 2008, residents wore military-style uniforms and flew pre-revolution Iranian flags, and U.S. forces stationed at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Grizzly on the periphery of the camp report that they continue to practice small unit military tactics and maneuvers under cover of darkness.
Camp residents provided Iraqi Army units now guarding the camp with meals, provided a trailer for the Iraqi commanding officer, provided a meeting room for the GoI committee, and installed space heaters in guard towers for the Iraqi troops. They also continued to build goodwill with surrounding Iraqi villages by providing employment in the camp.
These residents moved from the former Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty/Hurriya, which is adjacent to the Baghdad International Airport, following a December 2011 Memorandum of Understanding reached between the United Nations and the Government of Iraq, and brokered by the Government of the United States, for the express purpose of resettling them as refugees to third countries. The residents left behind valuable personal property and assets at Camp Ashraf, under the explicit agreement that they would retain title to such property and assets.
See Part 3