File photo shows members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO).[/caption]An Iranian diplomat has slammed the US for backing the anti-Iran Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), saying the terrorist group has bribed American politicians into showing public support for it.
In a column published on theUSA Todaydaily on Thursday, Counselor and Head of Press Office for the Permanent Mission of Iran to theUN Hamid Babaei, criticized Washington for removing the MKO from the US State Departments list of terrorist organizations in 2012.
The Iranian official also highlighted the crimes perpetrated by the MKO members against the Iranian and Iraqi nations and said the support of some American political figures for the terrorists as an Iranian opposition group shows their cluelessness about Iran.
Washington lobbyists and former American politicians and officials have accepted millions of dollars from the groupin return for which they have publicly supported them, wrote Babaei.
He further censured the Western states for sheltering the terrorists instead of bringing them to justice for their crimes.
It remains unclear why an organization with such a violent history would be allowed so freely to operate in many Western countries, said Babaei, stressing that the dual nature of standards against terrorism is likely the greatest threat being faced by international efforts to stop terrorism today.
The MKO fled Iran in 1986 for Iraq, where it received the backing of Iraqs executed dictator Saddam Hussein and set up a camp near the Iranian border. The terrorist group also sided with Saddam during Iraqs eight-year war on the Islamic Republic in 1980-1988.
The group is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community and is notorious for committing numerous terrorist acts against Iranians and Iraqis.
The European Union also removed the MKO from its list of terrorist organizations in 2009 after the group filed a petition against the blacklisting in 2008.
By Press TV
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