Ex-MKO Exposes Saudi Arabia’s Covert Funding of Iranian Terror Group

The spurious entity Saudi Arabia, created by Britain in 1932 for the desert brigand of Jewish origin, Abdul-Aziz Aal-e Saud, is actively backing terror activities against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The following is an article in this regard by Chile-based journalist Whitney Webb for MintPress titled “Ex-MKO Exposes Saudi Arabia’s Covert Funding of Iranian Terror Group”.

The MKO terrorists, popularly known as hypocrites in Iran for their treasonous alliance with Saddam of Baghdad during the 8-year US imposed war of the 1980s, have over the years killed over 17,000 Iranians including senior officials in terrorist bomb blasts.

According to this terror group’s former head of security, Saudi intelligence helped fund the group by smuggling valuables like gold and Rolex watches into Iraq and Jordan for sale on the black market.

Though it had been suspected for years, testimony from a former high-ranking official from the MKO terrorists has confirmed that the group had been covertly financed by Saudi Arabia.

For decades, the minority Wahhabi regime of Riyadh, known for its general hostility towards Muslims – especially Shi’a or followers of the Prophet’s Blessed Household, the Ahl al-Bayt – contributed hundreds of millions of dollars in gold and other valuables to help finance the Marxist militant group, namely the group’s ultimate goal of instigating violent change of government in Iran and subsequently seizing power.

In an interview with the Jordan-based news outlet al-Bawaba, former MKO head of security Massoud Khodabandeh detailed the covert means through which the Saudis helped fund the group, including regional smuggling networks and black market transactions.

According to Khodabandeh, gold and other valuable commodities, such as Rolex watches, were shipped from Saudi Arabia to Baghdad and then sold on black markets in the Jordanian capital of Amman by Saudi-linked businessmen. The proceeds from those transactions were then placed in offshore accounts tied to the MKO and subsequently used to fund their operations.

Khodabandeh also recounted how the Saudis had even given the group a kiswa – the large black gold-embroidered drape that adorns the holy Ka’ba in Mecca. Manufactured at a cost of approximately 5 million dollars, kiswas are often worth significantly more than their cost of production given their religious significance.

The former MKO official also told al-Bawaba that he had personally overseen the transfer of valuables from Saudi Arabia to Baghdad that were then sold in order to fund the group.

In one instance, Khodabandeh had smuggled three trucks filled with gold bars from Saudi Arabia to Baghdad along with two Iraqi and two Saudi accomplices. He estimated that the gold contained in the trucks was worth nearly $200 million, all of which eventually found its way into MKO coffers for carrying out terrorist activities.

Khodabandeh also asserted that Turki bin Faisal Aal-e Saud, former head of Saudi intelligence, was intimately involved in the smuggling rings used to covertly fund the MKO.

Unsurprisingly, Turki bin Faisal has since become a vocal advocate for the group and has spoken at several of MKO’s conferences hosted in Paris.

Khodabandeh went onto to state that, while Saddam of the repressive Ba’th minority regime of Baghdad had once been the main patron of the MKO, Turki bin Faisal of the minority Wahhabi cult of Riyadh, has taken over as the main backer of the Iranian terrorist group in recent years.

He added: “MKO has become an organization run by Maryam Rajavi under the patronage of Turki bin Faisal Aal-e Saud.”

The former terrorist official concluded the interview by stating that the MKO had “changed from a terrorist military organization to an intelligence-based propaganda machine.”

Despite its past as a terrorist outfit responsible for the mass murder of Iranian citizens, the MKO has sought to change its image in recent years and reinvent itself as what it likes to call “a moderate” Iranian opposition group.

These efforts have grown in recent years despite the fact that the group has next to no support within Iran and has consistently been characterized as both “cultish” and “authoritarian.”

The MKO’s facelift from terror group to propaganda machine began in the 2000s, kicking into high gear after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had them removed from the US list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2012. The MKO’s propaganda efforts have since kicked into overdrive under the current US administration, given that President Donald Trump has sought to place “maximum pressure” on Iran with the ultimate goal of change of government.

The Trump administration is stocked with known MKO supporters, including Rudy Giuliani, John Bolton and Elaine Chao, who have received thousands of dollars from the group over the years.

Despite its record of killing innocent civilians, Western media horns have turned a blind eye to the fact that MKO terrorists have been trained by the US military in the past and share connections with Israel’s notorious spy network Mossad. The recent exposure of the terrorist group’s connections to Saudi Arabia have also unsurprisingly slipped under the media’s radar.