Iran: Tens of Thousands Join Pro-Government Rallies
A Dispatch from Telesur
People take part in pro-government rallies in Iran.
Following several days of protests, tens of thousands have mobilized in support of Iran’s government and against U.S. and Israeli interventionism. Tens of thousands of Iranians are mobilizing across the country to denounce the United States and Israel and to demand an end to opposition protests that have caused at least 22 deaths.
Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: ‘Enemies’ are Behind Protests’
Rallies were held in the cities of Ahvaz, Kermanshah, Bushehr, Abadan, Gorgan and Qom. State media reported new rallies will be held on Thursday in other towns and cities. A massive rally is expected on Friday, after prayers, in Tehran.
Participants are holding national flags and are chanting pro-government slogans as they condemn the violence ensued in the last two days after peaceful protests over economic concerns turned deadly. Protesters were shown attacking state buildings and trying to seize police stations. These actions garnered condemnation by both reformist and conservative sectors of Iran’s political establishment, with both sides denouncing U.S. opportunism.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu joined in support of Iran’s stability.
“Iran’s stability is important for us. We are against foreign interventions in Iran,” Cavusoglu said in an interview.
“There are two people supporting the demonstrations in Iran: Netanyahu and Trump.”
The remarks come after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani linked the recent protests to the U.S. and Israel, claiming they “could not tolerate the country’s achievements in the diplomatic arena,” and after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the nation’s enemies were attempting to “infiltrate and strike the Iranian nation.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has cheered on protesters, openly calling Iran a “brutal and corrupt regime.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used his Twitter account to “wish the Iranian people success in their noble quest for freedom.”
Yesterday, during a telephone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Rouhani asked Macron to take action against a Paris-based Iranian opposition group called Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK), which Rouhani accused of fomenting the protests. [This is not the first time this violent group has been involved in such activities. Militants from this group have been harshly repressed by the Iranian government in the recent past, but recruitment has continued. See special note in Appendix to tis article.—Eds.]
According to a New York Times report, anti-government demonstrations were reported through social media in Shiraz, Kazerun, Lenjan and Rasht. The reports cast doubts over claims that the Iranian government had restricted social media access to curb protests.
If the MeK had not existed, it's almost certain the CIA/Pentagon would have created it. As a cult-like political and military formation with a strange mix of Islamic and Marxist ideology it has loyally served as a tool for the West to overthrow Iran's Islamic Republic government, presenting itself as the legitimate secular government of Iran in exile. Even the Wikipedia, heavily patrolled by CIA trolls, and so often edited to serve Western interests, acknowledges the unsavory history of the MeK. Read below a summary of its trajectory so far.
Click on the button below
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The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran or the Mojahedin-e Khalq (Persian: سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران, translit. Sāzmān-e mojāhedin-e khalq-e irān, abbreviated MEK, PMOI or MKO) is an Iranian political–militant organization[5] in exile that advocates the violent overthrow of the current regime in Iran, while claiming itself as the replacing government in exile.[27][28]
According to a 2009 report published by the Brookings Institution, the organization appears to be undemocratic and lacking popularity but maintains an operational presence in Iran, acting as a proxy against Tehran.[29] Some analysts state it still remains unpopular among Iranians.[30][31]
It is designated as a terrorist organization by Iran and Iraq, and was considered a terrorist organization by the United Kingdom and the European Union until 2008 and 2009 respectively, and by Canada and the United States until 2012.
Various scholarly works, media outlets, and the governments of the United States and France have described it as a cult.[b] The organization has built a cult of personalityaround its leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.[34]
It was founded on 5 September 1965 by six Muslim students who were affiliated with the Freedom Movement of Iran;[4] however in a coup-style ideological transformation, leftist members hijacked the Muslim group and adopted a Marxist platform in 1975.[39] The organization engaged in armed conflict with the Pahlavi dynasty in the 1970s and played an active role in the downfall of the Shah in 1979. They hailed "His Highness Ayatollah Khomeini as a glorious fighter (Mojahed)" and urged all to remain united behind him against plots by royalists and imperialists.[12]
Following the revolution, they participated in March 1979 referendum and strongly supported the Iran hostage crisis, but boycotted the Islamic Republic constitutional referendum in December 1979, being forced to withdraw their candidate for the Iranian presidential election in January 1980 as a result. Furthermore, despite the fact that the organization's top candidate received as much as 531,943 votes in Tehran electoral districtand had a few candidates in the run-offs, it was unable to win a single seat in the 1980 Iranian legislative election. Allied with President Abolhassan Banisadr, the group clashed with the ruling Islamic Republican Party while avoiding direct and open criticism of Khomeini until June 1981, when they declared war against the Government of Islamic Republic of Iran and initiated a number of bombings and assassinations targeting the clerical leadership.[6]
MEK's co-founder and leader in exile Maryam Rajavi.
The organization gained a new life in exile, founding the National Council of Resistance of Iran and continuing to conduct violent attacks in Iran. In 1983, they sided with Saddam Hussein against the Iranian Armed Forces in the Iran–Iraq War, a decision that was viewed as treason by the vast majority of Iranians and which destroyed the MEK's appeal in its homeland.[40] In 1988, a fatwa by Khomeini led to the executions of political prisoners, including MEK members.[41]
The group says it renounced violence in 2001.[42] However, the MEK has been accused by numerous commentators of being financed, trained, and armed by Israel to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists and educators.[43]
While the MEK's leadership has resided in Paris, the group's core members were for many years confined to Camp Ashraf in Iraq, particularly after the MEK and U.S. forces signed a cease-fire agreement of "mutual understanding and coordination" in 2003.[44] The group was later relocated to former U.S. military base Camp Liberty in Iraq[45] and eventually to Albania.[46]
In 2002 the MEK revealed the existence of Iran’s nuclear program. They have since made various claims about the programme, not all of which have been accurate.[47][48]
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