Before the Islamic Revolution, MEk assassinated a number of Americans who had settled in Iran and were deemed one of the enemies of the United States.Furthermore, they sided with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during Iraq's war against Iran which led to the killing of numerous Iranian people.
Definitely the American officials,who had added the MEk to their list of foreign terrorist organizations in 1997, have their own objectives of delistingthe group. Khabar Online conducted an interview with an Iranian analyst of international relationsand university instructor, Mahdi Motaharnia on the issue.
What are the criteria for terrorist acts in general?
A terrorist act is an armed violent action taking place indifferent frameworks to achieve different political and economic goals and so on, as terrorists do not adhere to the approved humanistic and legal criteria. Terrorist acts have been condemned and are considered negatively.
What does the United States seek by removing PMOI from the list of terrorist groups? On what basis the American officials decided to make such a decision?
The United States is currently orchestrating various motions against the Islamic Republic of Iran. It has waged a psychological war rather directed at field operations than media propagations. Regarding the background and records of MEk as a group hostile to the Islamic Republic, their delisting may prepare the ground for their relocation to different countries and organizing them as a part of opposition factionresided outside the country for taking measures against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
So, can one consider the Americans new approach to PMOIas a new lever of pressure on Iran tobow to the demands of the West [particularly on Iran's nuclear program]?
It’s not only a new lever of pressure on Iran but a necessary step for the United States which must be taken to provide the ground for the upcoming steps based on different scenarios.
During the last three decades the United States had put MEK in the list of the international terrorist groups, why the American officials decided to delist them after such a long time?
In pre-revolution period of Iran, MEk was chanting anti-imperialistic slogans and committed various acts of terror against the former Iranian Royal regime and even targeted the US citizens. In the post-revolution time, the American politicians began to monitor the moves of the terrorist group to see whether they are still adopting measures against their country or not. At the moment, they have been convinced that during the last decade MEk has not organized terrorist acts and has not threatened the interests of the United States in particular. Furthermore, the U.S. officials insist on the cooperation of MEk and their withdrawal from Ashraf Camp in Iraq. After fifteen years of court hearings and appeals, they finally removed MEk members from the list of terrorists.
The recent decision of the U.S. officials is at odds with the West’s claims on human rights. What impact such paradox will have on the international public opinion?
There will be different responses to their decision. Obviously public opinion in Tehran is different from those of Ankara, Tokyo and New York. However it's certain that the American government has made efforts to magnify its picture of “threatening Iran” which enables them to justify their actions against Islamic Republic.On the other hand, paradox is one of the features of the world’s politics. It's indeed a convention in the domain of the West's politics in line with their best interests and the world’s public opinion is not unfamiliar with such practice. One would say that the world's public opinion does not care that much about such flagrant paradoxes.