Don’t Let Iranian Terrorists Buy American Support |
A mere hours after US-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the question of what would come next for the country has become the most consequential for the region—and, unfortunately, a well-funded lobbying operation that has been buying Washington’s support for decades saw its moment. Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo took to social media to champion the “democratic opposition,” which is, in his view, “ready to step up and lead.” Rudy Giuliani piled in a day later, promoting an “exclusive message” from the group’s leader.
While a domestic opposition group might sound great, the organization they were actually championing should alarm Americans across the political spectrum. The Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, an exiled Iranian militant group that assassinated six Americans, including US military officers and civilian contractors during the 1970s and was previously a member of the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization list alongside the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah.
The group had spent 15 years on that list for good reason. MEK operatives assassinated six Americans in Iran during the 1970s—killings that their own newspaper, Mojahed, claimed credit for in 1980. After a violent break with Khomeini’s regime, they relocated to Iraq, where they allied with Saddam Hussein during a war that killed........