The Iranian opposition group that attracted that A-list of Washington backers, many of them generously compensated for speeches, learned Friday that it had achieved its goal: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has decided to remove the group, the Mujahedeen Khalq, or People’s Mujahedeen, from the State Department’s list of designated terrorist organizations.
the National Iranian American Council, which has long feuded with the group, denounced the delisting decision, saying that it “opens the door to Congressional funding of the M.E.K. to conduct terrorist attacks in Iran” and “makes war with Iran far more likely.” The statement compared the M.E.K. to Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi exile who helped persuade the Bush administration to invade Iraq.
Karim Sadjadpour, an expert on Iran at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said he thought the M.E.K. was less important than either its backers or critics claimed.
“They’re widely viewed as a backward and intolerant cult by their opposition peers in Iran,” he said. After the terrorist label is dropped, Mr. Sadjadpour said, “I don’t think the world really l… >>>
