By: Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

The relationship between the Mojahedeen-e Khaleg (MEK), the West and Iran is a curious one.  A fatal attraction that provokes images of a decadent man who must indulge himself in his particular habits in a house of ill-repute; the MEK being the house, with the West maintaining a destructive relationship for the sole purpose of tormenting Iran and Iranians.

For years now I have shuddered every time a Western country has made contact with the MEK; whether it was their spokesperson Jafarzadeh, or with Maryam Rajavi, or some other low-life.  Anxiety would fill every conscious hour of my day and even creep into my resting hours and torment me to think that Congress was working on taking these traitors off their Foreign Terrorist Organization list.  How could Maryam Rajavi be allowed to live comfortably in a Paris suburb, this woman who is the leader of a terrorist cult?  Further, how can she be free to walk into the European parliament, meet with (some) British MPs and be embraced by Belgium Senators? 

The West claims to have high moral values and for the past three years, it has been engaged in a ‘war on terror’.  America has employed extraordinary means to fight ‘terrorists’, yet when Ahmadinejad delivered his first speech to the United Nations, the US, in spite of its declared values and its proclaimed war on terror, issued visas to the MEK terrorist cult to ensure they would protest Ahmadinejad’s arrival in New York[i] – The ‘house was visited, the US was gratified, Iran tormented’.  This has been a pattern for some time.  Who knows when it started.

And so the West has become addicted to these visits to the MEK.  I say the West but in reality, I am confident that it is ordained by the US.  As Iran’s behavior becomes more intransigent,  the MEK seem to become more popular, and Maryam Rajavi sees a crown on her head instead of a headscarf.  So as Iran keeps adding centrifuges, more and more senators will visit the MEK wanna-be-queen.  Embassy doors will be flung open to her and she will no doubt accumulate a great deal of frequent flyer miles. 

The strength of this lethal relationship with the MEK has prevailed over the Islam- phobia that is prevalent everywhere in Europe[ii].  Fear of Islam has manifested itself by rejecting women who choose to wear the Islamic headscarf or other form of hijab.  The Islamic cover has become symbolic of a challenge to the Western democracy and secular society.  And yet, due to her extraordinary position, Maryam Rajavi’s Islamic headscarf, along with her activities as a cult leader of a terrorist organization is exempt from this rejection.  She is welcomed by Europeans – headscarf and all.  

In their fervor to torment, they have overlooked the Iranian people.   It is important to remember that in the volatile Middle East, the ‘Arab Street’, that is, the Arab public opinion and not their despotic rulers, bear a great deal of hostility towards the West, America in particular.  Aside from Israel who is the only US ally because it receives $6 billion a year in aid so that it can go about its destructive business, Iranians are the only other nation in the Middle East who have some degree of amity towards the Americans. Even NATO member Turkey blames and hates America for the recent uprising of the PKK.  The relationship the West has adopted with the MEK will not go down well with Iranians.

Iranians have not, and will never forget the treachery of the MEK.  They are more hated than any enemy known to them.  If the West, led by America, continues its song and dance with the disgraced MEK cult, whatever good will is left among the Iranian people towards the West will quickly dissipate.  The West should first uphold its values before it takes it upon itself to attack another country for lacking them.  Sleeping with an enemy, the terrorist leader of the MEK, will not benefit anyone.