MKO’s daydream & change of system in Iran running out of road

Anne and Massoud Khodabandeh

MKO’s Daydream & Change of System in Iran Running Out Of Road The US and the terrorist outfits it is backing in a vain bid to undermine the Islamic Republic on the presumption of changing the system of government in Iran, have run into a dead end.

A report appeared on the Lobelog site in this regard; jointly authored by the husband-and-wife team Anne and Massoud Khodabandeh, and titled: “MKO’s Daydream & Change of System in Iran Running Out Of Road”.

Massoud Khodabandeh is the director of the London-based Middle East Strategy Consultants and has worked with the authorities in post-Saddam Iraq, while Anne is an expert on anti-terrorist activities.

The so-called “regime change in Iran” bandwagon—driven by US warmongers, fueled by false prophesy, and hurtling pell-mell down the road contains various characters, some new and some old.

The bandwagon itself is an ideological construct created 40 years ago in response to the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. It has taken on various incarnations over the years, but its central purpose has always been to destroy the Islamic Republic of Iran and replace it with a compliant pro-American regime.

The drivers of this bandwagon are paid large sums to pursue this agenda at any cost. Others are mere passengers, hoping for a role in case the vehicle reaches the destination. Among these passengers is the MKO terrorist outfit – known in Iran as “monafeqin” or hypocrites for their killing of at least 17,000 Iranian people and their treason in siding with Saddam of the repressive Ba’th minority regime during the 8-year war imposed the US on the Islamic Republic.

MKO, which used to be on the official list of terrorist groups in the US and Europe, has now been delisted and is being called “democratic opposition” – a label which hardly fits this hated cultish outfit.

The MKO has been a passenger for all 40 years of the journey, hanging on by paying the American drivers. These drivers are public persons such as National Security Advisor John Bolton and Trump lawyer Rudi Giuliani, along with a host of other supposedly “influential” persons who steer the bandwagon inexorably toward conflict.

But just as the bandwagon appears to be gathering speed and momentum—in a bid to scare the Trump administration’s opponents—the MKO appears to be running out of road. And that could signal a halt to the whole enterprise.

The first sign of this came in a piece by Eli Clifton, which discussed the provenance of a large payment ($165,000) received by John Bolton in relation to a tweet to “defend a non-governmental anti-Iran pressure group, called UANI or United Against Nuclear Iran.”

Clifton’s own tweet was met by a couple of feeble MKO slave troll posts on his thread spouting the usual “no appeasement” themes. This indicates that the MKO has been outbid by a new bandwagon passenger called UANI, since the MKO only managed $40,000 for one of Bolton’s speeches. Also, the MKO trolls are running out of steam, back in their closed camp in Albania.

Even while Bolton and the Trump administration, along with Zionist Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Heir Apparent Mohamed bin Salman (MBS) are pushing for a war with Iran, they are beginning to realize that the MKO is not the stick needed to strike fear into Tehran. Indeed, a look at the recent behaviour of the MKO in Albania reveals a failing group beset by internal crisis.

After a series of critical investigative articles by reporters from Al-Jazeera, The Guardian, The Independent, Channel 4 News, NBC, and others, the recent report in Der Spiegel by Luisa Hommerich was apparently the last straw. The MKO issued a Farsi language statement (written and published in Europe) threatening to assassinate her—for just doing her job.

Hommerich reported that inside the camp in Albania that MKO militants were still practicing the deadly techniques for combat taught them by Saddam’s Republican Guard, such as slitting throats with a knife, breaking hands, gouging out eyes with fingers, and tearing the mouth open.

In 2017, the Trump administration reversed a 2013 plan by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to establish a De-Radicalisation Institute to disband and rehabilitate the MKO, allowing the dangerous cult to regroup behind closed doors in a de facto extra-territorial enclave and continue its violent practices.

In spite of this boost, the MKO, beset by exposures and defections, is trying to prevent the total collapse of the terrorist outfit. Around a thousand members have left the group since it relocated to Albania. The front line over which the MKO peers at the Islamic Republic is no longer Iraq but is now represented by a group of 40 former members protesting in Tirana.

The MKO claim that these are all “agents of the Islamic Republic” who want to kill the remaining cult members. So, instead of orchestrating change of the ruling system in Iran, the MKO can’t even deal with 40 destitute former members.

The MKO is engaged in a form of modern slavery by not paying thousands of activists for 30 years or more. Members who leave the group are left destitute because they have nothing but the clothes on their back even after decades of loyal service.

The MKO claims that members offer their services as “volunteers.” But the preamble to the UN Declaration of Human Rights states in its opening sentence that human rights are inalienable—that is, they cannot be disowned by anyone for any reason. MKO leader Maryam Rajavi is responsible for such decisions and treatment.

Not only are the defectors that Hommerich profiles impoverished because they have not had financial recompense for their years of devotion, they are also deliberately left stateless. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees brought the MKO to Albania from Iraq on supposedly “humanitarian grounds.” But on arrival they were not granted UN refugee status, nor have they been issued Albanian identity documents that would allow them to work or travel. Lack of residency rights also means that they cannot register for a bank account. They have no identity papers whatsoever, except the flimsy piece of paper used to fly them through international airspace from Baghdad to Tirana.

In her pursuit of fame and glory, Maryam Rajavi treats her members as, essentially, cannon fodder. In the idealized future she paints for the members, they will one day march on Tehran, as the vanguard of a spontaneous uprising of the Iranian people. So, why would they need money or identity papers?

In the meantime, it suits Rajavi to have her “followers” incarcerated in a closed camp unable to live independent lives, subject to the whims and demands of the struggle that she purports to lead. But that struggle has almost evaporated. Sure, the MKO is still performing propaganda tasks for various Saudis, Israelis, and Americans to advance the anti-Iran push. But even that is becoming more and more irrelevant as the MKO itself begins to fail.