The leading exiled Iranian dissident group says the Biden administration is downplaying attacks against its followers in Europe in a bid to placate Iran’s hardline theocratic regime and draw it back to the negotiating table over its suspect nuclear programs.
The group has come under renewed scrutiny after Albanian authorities raided a camp it had established in Albania and the French government last week revealed it would not allow Iranian opposition rally planned for next month in the heart of Paris, citing the risk of violence if the event went forward. The rallies have been held annually since 2008.
Ali Safavi, a representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran aligned with the exiled Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), told The Washington Times he believes the Biden administration is “maligning the MEK unjustly to appease Iran’s brutal rulers.”
The allegation marks the latest in the MEK’s turbulent history with Washington, where the group was once placed on and then removed from the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organizations list. The group has emerged with political influence in more recent years, calling for Iranian regime change and aligning with the former Trump administration’s policy of “maximum pressure” toward Iran.
The Biden administration, which has unsuccessfully sought detente with Tehran over the past three years, has held a cautious posture toward the MEK and recently downplayed a raid by the Albanian authorities on the exiled group’s complex in the Eastern European nation. The White House has also not protested the French decision to cancel the annual rally.
While the MEK has established a refuge in Albania in recent years under a deal that was actually brokered by the former Obama administration, Albanian authorities seized 150 computer devices in the June 20 raid, during which several people were injured and, the group claims, a 65-year-old Iranian dissident was killed.
Iranian state-media praised the Albania raid, with the regime-controlled Tasnim News Agency suggesting it was even carried out at the behest of Tehran, which labels the MEK as a terrorist organization and has long blamed it for seeking to toppled the Islamist regime.
“What happened in Albania was actually the result of the diplomacy of the authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the actions of various institutions,” a Tasnim report said.
Albania’s government in 2013 agreed to shelter MEK members on the condition that they not engage in any political activity and must abide by the country’s laws. The Ashraf-3 camp that was raided last week now houses some 2,500 Iranian exiles in over 125 buildings across a 100-acre property, according to the Associated Press.
The White House has not commented. However, the State Department told The Washington Times that American officials were informed of the raid and were confident it was conducted lawfully. “We support the government of Albania’s right to investigate any potential illegal activities within its territory,” the department said.
The statement comes amid behind-the-scenes contacts between Washington and Tehran, designed to resurrect some version of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that was repudiated by President Trump in 2018. The Biden administration’s top Iran envoy, Robert Malley, has reportedly met multiple times with Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani in recent months, sparking speculation the administration is eager to draw Tehran back into nuclear talks amid reports Tehran’s programs are again nearing the “breakout” point for building a nuclear bomb.
Previous administration attempts to lure Tehran to the table broke down last year after Iran rejected a compromise deal pushed by leading European nations. Iran says the U.S. is to blame for the collapse of the previous deal and the restoration of harsh economic sanctions, and has demanded guarantees that future U.S. administrations will not follow Mr. Trump’s lead in rejecting any new pact that limits Iran’s nuclear programs.
Anger on the Hill
The Biden administration’s response to the recent crackdown on the MEK — a group loathed by the Iranian regime — has sparked outrage from some prominent U.S. lawmakers.
Several have criticized the Albania raid and the French move to bar what was once the group’s annual rally. The MEK has filed a legal challenge to France’s move, which came after the recent release of an Iranian diplomat convicted of plotting to bomb the rally in 2018.
“Deeply concerned that across Europe – and especially right now, France and Albania – our allies are appeasing the Iranian regime and cracking down on anti-regime dissidents,” Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, tweeted last week. “The Biden admin is reportedly supporting these pro-regime policies. … The crackdowns and appeasement will embolden and enable the Iranian regime to commit more global terrorism.”
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas Democrat, added: “We must denounce activities to stop those freedom-loving Iranians in France and Albania from expressing their peaceful democratic views of opposition to the tyranny in Iran.”
Despite its outreach to Iran, the Biden administration has upheld the State Department’s longstanding designation of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism and kept in place a Trump-era designation of the Iranian military’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. Officials have also said President Biden would use force if necessary to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Iranian dissidents associated with the MEK say the group finds itself once again caught up in on-again, off-again U.S. approach to negotiating with Iran.
Decades ago, the group was engaged in a power struggle against leaders of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and was known to have carried out terrorist attacks against Iranian government targets during the 1980s. Although U.S. officials say it also participated in attacks on Americans, MEK representatives have long argued the group’s onetime listing by Washington as a terrorist organization was never driven by any legitimate U.S. national security concerns.
The MEK claims that during the late 1990s, officials within the Clinton administration listed the group as a terrorist organization as a sop to Tehran.
“We’ve witnessed this saga unfold before — a poorly constructed spectacle marked by the State Department’s incessant and unsuccessful attempts to appease Iran’s medieval mullah regime,” said Mr. Safavi.
“The credibility of the MEK doesn’t stem from the State Department’s absurd declarations but is firmly rooted in its relentless six-decade-long struggle and the significant sacrifices it has made in the fight for freedom in Iran,” he said.
• Ben Wolfgang contributed to this article.
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.