Don’t remove MKO from terrorist list, Iranian officials tell EU

There is no measure the EU can take to change the nature of this terrorist group, Ambassador Hasan Kazemi Qomi told the Fars News Agency on Saturday.

He made the remarks in response to EU diplomats’ tentative agreement to remove the Mojahedin Khalq Organization from the 27-nation bloc’s list of terrorist organizations.

The MKO, blacklisted by both the United States and the European Union, moved to Iraq in the 1980s, where it enjoyed the support of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the fall of Saddam, the group came under the protection of the U.S.

MP Zohreh Elahian of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said on Saturday that removing the MKO from the terrorist organizations list would undermine the amicable relations between Iran and the EU.

This action will raise questions about the EU’s goodwill, she told the Mehr News Agency.

On Saturday, MNA also quoted MP Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh as saying the preliminary agreement between the EU diplomats shows that the EU seeks to turn the MKO’s “military game” into a “political game” that will benefit the West.

He also called on Iranian officials to respond to the EU’s “non-legal” measure.

SL/HG

END

MNA