Iran’s Authorities Rant About MEK for “Setting Precedent” of Blacklisting IRGC
Written by
Mehdi Oghbai
panel_7
The European Parliament passed a resolution urging the European Union Member States to blacklist the Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) for its role in spreading terrorism and oppressing protesters. As the calls for proscribing the IRGC grow in Europe, regime officials express fear and rant about the Iranian opposition, Mujahedin-e Khalq’s (MEK) role in mobilizing the world against the godfather of terrorism in Tehran.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf
“Europe has protected and sheltered the MEK in the last decades. Naturally, they seek to designate the IRGC and confront this organization,” Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said during a public session to assess the government’s budget on Sunday.
“I warn the European Union to not fall for the MEK’s trap,” MP Mohammad-Reza Mirtaj al-Dini, member of the program and budget commission, said on January 22, according to the state-run Entekhab website.
While accusing the MEK of terrorism, Hossein Salami, the commander of the IRGC terrorists, criticized France for “Sheltering the MEK for years.”
The IRGC, as D primary tool of domestic repression & export of terrorism 2 D region, should be designated as an FTO#BlacklistIRGC
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) March 9, 2017
Amir Abdollahian
Amir Abdollahian
“Today, we witnessed the adoption of the draft of an emotional, rough, and unprofessional resolution by the European Parliament. We have said before that the IRGC is an official and governmental institution,” the regime’s FM Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on January 19.
“The European Parliament called the IRGC a terrorist organization in the very conference hall it has hosted the MEK,” Iran’s state TV reported on January 19. While showing pictures of the NCRI’s President-elect, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, in the European Parliament, the state TV said: “But who is the favorite companion of those MEPs signing this resolution? Maryam Rajavi.”
The regime’s TV reflected the mullahs’ utter fear and agony of how Mrs. Rajavi was welcomed and invited on several occasions by the European lawmaker to hear her policy recommendations regarding Iran.
The regime officials and news outlets went ballistic over the MEK’s role in raising the issue of blacklisting the MEK. Dozens of interviews and hit pieces against the MEK were published, with officials and state media rehashing their worn-out allegations against Iran’s principal opposition.
“I think the European Union is being played by the terrorist MEK. I am surprised to see how easily MEK deceived the European Union member states. This would certainly be against the EU’s interests,” MP Gholamreza Shariati said on Sunday, according to the state-run Entekhab website.
Zahermand
Abolfazl Zohreh-Vand
“The European Parliament is under the influence of likes of the MEK,” Abolfazl Zohreh-Vand, the regime’s former ambassador to Italy, told the state-run Fars News Agency on Monday.
“Europe is playing the MEK’s scenario. They have allowed the MEK to participate in the EU’s public and private sessions. They should’ve allowed us to present the documents about the group’s terrorist activities,” MP Mohammad Hassan Asafari said on Sunday, according to the state-run Entekhab website.
“The European Parliament voted for blacklisting the IRGC, Iran’s official military force. Meanwhile it was the MEK, a hated grouplet among Iranians, who set the stage of this play,” the state-run Arman daily wrote on Monday, January 23.
“The European countries have a filthy record of supporting terrorist groups. Their unanimous support of the MEK is a stain on their human rights record, debunking all of the EU’s claims of combatting terrorism all at once. The MEK’s footprint in this campaign to blacklist the IRGC is visible,” Javan daily, an outlet linked to the IRGC, wrote in its editorial on January 24.
“The MEK’s efforts in this anti-IRGC campaign cannot be overlooked. They made many efforts and launched an extensive campaign to reach this point, and the European Parliament fell for their propaganda, and lost its independence and damaged its reputation,” the state-run ISNA News Agency quoted Mohammad Hashemi, a member of the regime’s Expediency Council, on January 23.
The main topic of the regime’s Friday Prayers Sermons was the EP’s resolution against the IRGC. The Friday Prayer Leaders, acting as the supreme leader’s mouthpieces, ranted about the MEK’s role in this regard. The state TV broadcasted these anti-MEK slurs.
“Instead of being realistic, you chose to accept the propaganda by a bunch of terrorists you sheltered. The MEK is misleading you, and they have a dark record. You are digging your own grave by supporting them,” Mohammad Ali Nekonam, the Friday Prayer leader of Shahr-e Kurd, said on January 19.
“You passed a resolution in the very place you have been hosting the MEK. How dare you designate the IRGC?” Vaad Morad-beigi, Friday Prayer leader of Ilam said on Friday.
“Now you are designating the IRGC? Where? In the same place, you hosted the MEK terrorists and supported them. Do you hold meetings for them and dare to speak about blacklisting IRGC? This is pathetic,” Rasul Falahati, Rasht’s Friday Prayer Leader, said on January 19.
“Demands for blacklisting the IRGC is a precedent set by the MEK and the [opposition] leader Maryam Rajavi. For example, on March 23, 2010, the so-called ‘president-elect’ addressed German lawmakers in a meeting in the Bundestag’s presidium palace and urged western governments, mainly Germany, to ‘impose comprehensive sanctions, especially on the oil sector, on Iran and put the IRGC in the list of a terrorist organization. She also underlined that sanctions are necessary but not enough. They should be coupled with policy change and supporting the Iranian Resistance,” Etelaat daily wrote on January 23.
The Iranian Resistance has been the prime target of the IRGC and its terrorist Quds Force.
Apart from killing MEK members inside Iran, the IRGC also attacked the Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty of MEK residents in Iraq. The regime’s terrorists attempted to bomb the NCRI’s “Free Iran Summit” in 2018 near Paris and a Persian New Year’s celebration in Albania, where MEK members were relocated in 2016.
Iranian regime outrage and fears are unending over the possibility of the designation of its main oppressive force. What further infuriates mullahs is the Iranian resistance’s role in exposing the IRGC’s crimes, inside and outside Iran, while urging the international community to blacklist the terrorist entity.
The Rise of the Revolutionary Guards Financial Empire
The Rise of the Revolutionary Guards Financial Empire
In 2019, the NCRI’s Representative Office in Washington detailed the rise of the Revolutionary Guards Financial Empire and how, with the blessing of the regime’s Supreme Leader, it managed to gradually gain control of a large segment of the Iranian economy, using the revenues and the profits to fund its terrorist operations in the Middle East and beyond. This happened shortly before the U.S. decision to put the IRGC on the list of terrorist organizations.
The NCRI-US book was in addition to dozens of conferences by the Iranian Resistance in the last four decades exposing the IRGC’s destructive role both inside and outside Iran. Article 2 of Mrs. Rajavi’s ten-point plan for the future of Iran calls for the “Dissolution and disbanding of the IRGC, the terrorist Qods Force, plainclothes groups, Basij, the Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS), the Cultural Revolution Council, and all suppressive patrols and institutions.”
The regime’s anti-MEK tirade in recent days and complaints about the organization’s impact on European lawmakers starkly contrast Tehran’s decades-long propaganda that the MEK is a “fringe group” with “no popular support” inside Iran. It is common knowledge that no organization would survive under a brutal regime, such as Iran’s ruling theocracy, without having deep social and historical roots in its homeland. In fact, the MEK’s ability to create its network of Resistance Units inside the country and expand it, along with its activities in the diaspora, is the organization’s advantage in its foreign relations.
So the regime’s whistling in the dark about and the paradox of attacking what it describes a “grouplet” only shows the mullahs’ fear of a viable alternative that plays a key role in the revolution in the making inside and outside Iran.