Intelligence Ministry hails Albania action on MKO
Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence praised the government of Albania for its recent action against the terrorist Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO), noting that the Islamic Republic is seriously hunting hostile terrorists abroad.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence hailed the Albanian government’s recent crackdown against MKO terrorists at their camp northwest of Tirana as a “step forward,” Tasnim news agency reported.
In late June, Albanian police raided a camp hosting the MKO due to its engagement in “terror and cyberattacks” against foreign institutions.
At least one MKO terrorist was killed and dozens of others were injured during the clashes at the camp, known as Ashraf-3, in the northwest of the capital Tirana.
The statement cited authentic information as indicating that “under the direction and pressures of the Zionist murderers, a series of notorious sponsors of terrorism in Europe and the US are seeking to give artificial respiration to and revive the terrorist MKO cult.”
However, the ministry pointed out that just recently its forces have also carried out operations against MKO elements in different parts of Iran.
The ministry gave assurance that it will proceed with tireless efforts to fully eradicate the terrorists that commit acts of sabotage against Iran as proxies for the Zionist regime, with the support of the enemies of Iran.
The statement added that in its intelligence and security interactions with European intelligence services, Iran has given several warnings about the terrorist activities of the MKO from within Western countries, particularly from their central camp in Albania.
The anti-Iran group’s attempt at staging a rally in France in late June was foiled as the Paris police banned the event over security concerns. The decision later proved to be doubly wise as the French police were stretched thin by the nationwide rioting in the wake of the killing of a 17-year-old boy by an officer that saw hundreds arrested overnight, from Thursday to Friday.
However, a week later, the Paris administrative court overruled the police ban, saying that it was “a serious and manifestly illegal attack” on the freedom of the terrorist cult to demonstrate.
Mike Pence, former US vice president, who is now challenging his former boss Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, attended the subsequent MKO demonstration. Trump’s former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, another prominent supporter of the group, warned by video link against making any new deal with Tehran on its nuclear drive.
MKO members spent many years in Iraq, where they were hosted and armed by the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. They sided with Saddam during the 1980–88 Iran-Iraq war, and then helped him quell domestic uprisings in various parts of the Arab country.
More than 17,000 Iranians, many of them civilians, have been killed at the hands of the MKO in different acts of terrorism including bombings in public places and targeted killings.