The People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI), mostly known as MKO (Mujāhedin-e Khalq Organization), was a paramilitary group founded in 1965 in Iran. After the overthrow of Mohammadreza Pahlavi and the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1978, this group, claiming to be the main factor in achieving the Islamic Revolution, started to stir up hostility towards the new Islamic government of Iran. In 1981, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) declared an armed revolt against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Carrying out several terrorist operations on large and small scales, the group made more than 17,000 martyrs of Iranians. The two most important operations of MEK were the bombing of the prime minister’s office and headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party (IRP) of Iran, which caused the martyr of the president, prime minister, head of the Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic of Iran and more than seventy leading officials of Iran. After absconding from Iran, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq relocated to Iraq, and Saddam Hussein, the dictator of Iraq, welcomed it into the bosom of his country. There, they took up weapons against their own country and participated in two operations against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In early 1988, Iran and Iraq accepted a cease-fire agreement under the terms of UN Resolution 598. However, under the delusion that they could conquer Tehran in a few days, the MEK, with the support of Saddam Hussein’s army, attacked Iran and crossed the borders, committing ferociously and ruthless felonies like hanging and burning innocent people.
Though pretending to be the claimant of human rights and the legitimate alternative to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the MEK today is doing its best to slam the Islamic Republic of Iran.
After about 25 years of residing in Iraq and following the overthrow of the Baathist regime of Saddam Hossein, the MEK was expelled from this country and resettled in Albania with the financial support of some Arab countries and the direct support of the United States.
Being in Europe, pretending to change its behavior and adopting the position of civil opposition, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq group started to take action against the people of Islamic Iran. One of these measures is holding the annual meetings.
The so-called political meetings of the MEK have been held in France and Albania for many years.
The primary purpose of these meetings is to change its image from a terrorist group to a democratic opposition group or an alternative figure for the Islamic Republic of Iran through using the media. However, this goal has not been realized in these meetings since all the speakers and participants in these gatherings are rented.
These meetings are a demonstration, which has lost its pre-production aspect of practical action or future planning and targeting years ago and is more of a propaganda arena for survival.
All that Mujahedin-e-Khalq tries to show in these meetings, for which they spend millions of dollars, is that “we still exist” and “Iran’s enemies can invest in us to fight against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
However, it should also be pointed out that, as the Mujahedin-e-Khalq itself is aware, the estimates of the pro-MEK intelligence services show the lack of status of this group and even the hatred of it among Iranians, and speaking of an alternative to the Iranian state and the overthrow of it is nothing but idle talk and stays at the stage of propaganda. However, after all, regarding all its factors, capacities, and facilities, this group is a part of the opposition of the Islamic Republic, and empowering groups like the MEK will help the enemy countries to at least persecute Iran.
The meeting of the MEK in Paris is nothing but a superficial and shallow event, and if we consider the radius of its effects to be more than the same rented hall in Villepinte and a few hours of media propaganda before and after that, we have exaggerated. However, evaluating this meeting can explain the whole razzle-dazzle of this show.
All the participants in this meeting or the previous and subsequent ones, even if they are well-known politicians, have one thing in common. They have not only retired from the world of politics and power but, by dealing with the MEK, almost have no hope of returning to power.
John Bolton, Gingrich, Turki bin Faisal, and others no longer have a status in the power structures of their respective countries, and they only consider attending the meetings of the MEK as a business and with financial motives. The position and background of each of these politicians affect increasing or decreasing the payments. Considering the payments by the MEK, which gets to 80,000 dollars for a two-minute speech in some cases, confirms this claim. Interestingly, the context of the speeches is also prepared by the agents of Mujahedin-e-Khalq, and to be more precise, the speakers are booked for an hour at the meetings of the hypocrites.
Rudolph Giuliani, one of the attendees at the recent meeting of the MEK in Villepinte, is an excellent example of the fact that these politicians do not consider any political future in the power structures for themselves, so they carry out such business with Mujahedin. After the inauguration of Donald Trump, to introduce himself as an option in the cabinet, Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, tried to stand aloof from the group and its promotional activities for a while. However, his presence at last year’s meeting shows that he has no hope of returning to power and has returned to his old business!
The final word is that closing the Mujahedin case requires a strong will, which Western governments, including France, can be one of its main pillars, provided that instead of political goals, the real fight against terrorism is the decision criterion.