Iran adds to blacklist of US officials supporting MKO
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has updated its blacklist of the US officials who support the anti-Iran terrorist Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO).
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In astatement issued on Saturday, the ministry said 61 US individuals were designated in accordance with an Iranian law titled “Countering Violations of Human Rights and Adventurist and Terrorist Actions of the United States of America in the Region,” particularly Article 4, passed by Iran's Parliament in August 2017.
The blacklisted individuals include former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former White House National Security advisor John Bolton, who have attended the terror group’s meetings. Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Bob Menedez are also among the designated other persons.
The ministry said the US officials have supported the MKO terrorist group through participation in its gathering, acknowledging their terrorist acts and objectives as well as providing political and propaganda support to it.
According to the statement, the MKO has organized and perpetrated countless terrorist acts over the past decades and killed thousands of innocent civilians, in particular women and children.
Despite the MKO's terrorist nature and atrocious acts of terrorism as well as its violent terrorist and military activities, the ministry said, the United States continues to support this group and has maintained its double standards and hypocrisy in this regard.
Reaffirming Iran’s international obligations in desisting and refraining from, among others, facilitating and encouraging terrorist acts, the ministry stressed that the US policy on supporting the MKO terrorist group is "in violation of the abovementioned obligation and constitutes internationally wrongful acts entailing the international responsibility" of the United States, it added.
It emphasized that all relevant Iranian authorities will take appropriate measures for effective implementation of the sanctions stipulated in the parliament's law.
After it was founded more than 50 years ago, the MKO launched a campaign of bombings and assassinations in Iran. Out of the nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist attacks over the past four decades, about 12,000 have fallen victim to the group’s acts of terror.
The ill-famed terror group is currently based in Albania, where it enjoys freedom of activity after being delisted by the European Union and the United States in 2009 and 2012 respectively.
Regardless of its disrepute around the world, the MKO has in recent years held numerous big events, attended by senior American, Israeli and Saudi officials, including former US Senator John McCain, former mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani, John Bolton, former US Senator Joe Lieberman, and former director of Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency Turki bin Faisal Al Saud.
