Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Jan. 13, 2019 – In reaction to the sanctioning of an intelligence body and two agents of the Iranian regime, Mahmoud Vaezi, the chief of staff of Iranian regime president Hassan Rouhani, said, “there’s no doubt that Europe has been a safe haven for [PMOI/MEK] and in the past 40 years, it has supported this group’s activities in different ways.”
Vaezi, who spoke to the state-run IRNA new agency, said, “If Europe is honest [in its efforts], it should stop supporting the [MEK].”
Elsewhere, Nozar Shafie, one of the international affairs experts of the Iranian regime, lamented the turn of events for the Iranian regime and said, “Let’s not forget that European countries have become a place for the gathering place of groups that are calling for the overthrow [of the regime] such as [PMOI/MEK]. This is not consistent with the spirit of interaction and cooperation.”
Shafie recommended, “I believe that in its talks with the European Union, the foreign ministry must have a separate agenda for the presence and activities of groups such as [PMOI/MEK] in Europe.”
The remarks by Iranian regime officials are coming on the heels of fresh new sanctions by the EU, which put an asset freeze on an Iranian intelligence unit and two of its staff. The decision came after Netherlands accused the Iranian regime of two terrorist attack on its soil. Netherlands joins the ranks of France and Denmark, two European states that have recently condemned the Iranian regime for its terrorist activities in their countries.
In the past year, the Iranian regime has ramped up its terrorist activities in Europe. In July, authorities in several European countries revealed an intricate terrorist plot that aimed at detonating a bomb at the Free Iran rally, the annual gathering of the Iranian resistance, attended by tens of thousands of Iranians and hundreds of politicians from various countries. Assadollah Assadi, the orchestrator of the foiled attack, was a senior diplomat in the Iranian regime’s embassy in Vienna, Austria. Assadi is currently in Belgium, where he has been stripped of his diplomatic immunity and is being tried for his involvement in the terrorist attack.
Earlier in March, the Iranian regime attempted to bomb the annual Persian New Year celebration of PMOI/MEK members in Tirana, Albania. Again, the attack was discovered and foiled by Albanian authorities. In December, Albania expelled the Iranian ambassador and another Iranian diplomat because of their involvement in the plot.
In October, Danish authorities foiled another terror plot by the Iranian regime, this time targeted at Arab dissidents in the country.
