Massoud Rajavi, the leader of the Iranian Resistance (PMOI/MEK Iran), mobilized youth in their hundreds of thousands to listen to his speeches.

The Iranian regime is currently in crisis, made worse by sanctions and the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19. This has led to an increase in unrest, particularly among younger people. Because the regime has little to offer and it has forgotten what democracy means, Iranian youth are looking for an alternative voice and are starting to show an interest in joining the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK Iran).

As one might expect, Ali Khamenei the regime’s Supreme Leader is trying to discredit the (PMOI/MEK Iran). One event it recently published was a video conference with several Basij mercenaries who were pretending to be students. Ali Khamenei used this discussion to get the Basij mercenaries to express their fear over this rise in support for the (PMOI/MEK Iran). Khamenei himself says that where young people meet such as in the country’s universities is where students learn about what the (PMOI/MEK Iran) has to offer.

Iranian regime’s strategy to create its own media channels

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the regime’s chief alternative, has had to put up with getting its image tarnished through the use of the following media sources:

• state-run TV and radio,
• the movie industry,
• hundreds of newspaper articles,
• written pieces in weekly and monthly magazines,
• hundreds of websites translated into different languages on the internet,
• thousands of books that set out to distort Iran’s modern history.

All these media sources have been used as a way of distorting facts about the (PMOI/MEK Iran) and have tried to dissuade the youth in particular from taking any interest in their politics. What has been made worse is that it has used ex (PMOI/MEK Iran) members as the key critics of the (PMOI/MEK Iran).

It has recently been reported on the state-run “Rahyaftegan” website that “The office of Mr. [Mahmoud] Alavi, the honorable minister of security and intelligence, is working around the clock and has hired some of the MEK’s repentant defectors such as Soltani, Khodabandeh, Ezati, Hosseini, Karimdadi, Mesdaghi, Yaghmai, Pour-Hossain, and… By putting a lot of energy and of course, financially backing them, it uses them to psychologically confront the (PMOI/MEK Iran), which is great, but is it enough?”

Why is the MEK a threat?

One of the reasons stated by the regime is that the (PMOI/MEK Iran) believes in a Revolutionary Islam which it sees as not being the “true” Islam which the 1979 revolution was allegedly built on. The regime believes that this type of Islam would have a “devastating effect on the Iranian society and among different generations of youth, particularly the current one.” The regime alludes to its fears in the early days following the so-called Iranian revolution when Massoud Rajavi, the leader of the Iranian Resistance, mobilized youth in their hundreds of thousands to listen to his speeches.

Back on March 29^th, 1980 even Le Monde the French newspaper reported that “Rajavi, has many sympathizers.

Over the years, the (PMOI/MEK Iran) hasn’t gone away and Khomeini in the last throws of life kept issuing warnings about the threat of the organization. The protests in January 2018 were blamed on the (PMOI/MEK Iran). The most recent countrywide protests in November of last year over unprecedented gas price increases were also blamed on the (PMOI/MEK Iran), orchestrated from their Albanian base. The regime doesn’t seem to quite catch on that, representing different social classes, from workers to more privileged students of the Sharif University of Technology, are increasingly interested in what the MEK has to offer.

Regime trying to discredit the MEK Iran

Mr. Mahmoud Alavi, the government’s minister of security and intelligence is so intent on discrediting the (PMOI/MEK Iran) that he is working 24/7 to reach this target. He has even sourced the services of MEK’s repentant defectors which of course he backed financially. These include:

• Yaghmai,
• Soltani,
• Pour-Hossain.
• Mesdaghi,
• Khodabandeh,
• Karimdadi,
• Hosseini,

Arresting MEK members won’t stop the MEK

The regime’s spokesperson for the judiciary, Mr. Gholamhossain Esmaili, who recently alluded to the arrest of two (PMOI/MEK Iran) students of Sharif University but the regime realized this action wasn’t a deterrent. So it has constantly warned the youth to stop following Rajavi and joining the (PMOI/MEK Iran) as it doesn’t represent true Islam.