(PMOI / MEK Iran): More than 80 percent of Iranian diplomats are recruited from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The IRGC has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and several other countries because of its financial support and training of terrorist militias.

Opening arguments in the trial of Iranian regime diplomat Assadollah Assadi are scheduled to begin on November 27 in Belgium. Assadi is charged with masterminding the 2018 foiled terrorist bombing plot against the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s (NCRI), and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran). Free Iran gathering in Villepinte, France and personally handing over 500 grams of TATP explosives to two accomplices. Evidence gathered by Belgian and German authorities indicates that the attack was ordered by officials at the highest levels of the regime, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.

Assadi is remarkable in that he is the first sitting diplomat to face charges in direct connection to terrorist activities in the West. However, Assadi is not the first Iranian regime agent to use the cover of Iran’s embassies to plot terrorist attacks or conduct espionage in their host countries.

The Role of Iran’s Embassies

According to former Iranian regime diplomat Mohammad Reza, as many as 80 percent of Iranian diplomats are recruited from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The IRGC has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and several other countries because of its financial support and training of terrorist militias. Some other diplomats, such as Assadi, are recruited from the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS, the regime’s intelligence-gathering agency.

Most Iranian diplomats are recruited from the IRGC.

Regime diplomats have included high-ranking IRGC commanders, Quds Force commanders (the terrorist arm of the IRGC), senior MOIS agents, a suspected member of the group of student radicals involved in the Iran hostage crisis. Senior MOIS deputy Gholamhossein Mohammadnia was stationed at the regime’s embassy in Albania in 2016 when MEK members relocated to the country. A terrorist plot in early 2018 led to the expulsion of several regime diplomats.

The MOIS has an office in Iran’s Berlin embassy, which it shares with the intelligence branch of the IRGC. Diplomats are fully expected to cooperate with IRGC and MOIS agents and go along with their plans, whatever they might be. The IRGC’s mission is to spread Islamic fundamentalism throughout the world using armed proxy groups. The MOIS’s mission is to seek out and eliminate dissident groups inside Iran and abroad. Neither of these goals is compatible with diplomacy.

Diplomats in Germany are also instructed to bypass sanctions by establishing ties with like-minded German businesses and setting up meetings with high-ranking Iranian regime officials. Numerous questionable shipments of goods into Iran can be traced back to German companies. IRGC/MOIS agents who engage in this illegal behavior are rarely held accountable because of diplomatic immunity. In fact, regime officials tried to claim diplomatic immunity to prevent Assadollah Assadi from facing charges in Belgium, but the court ruled that immunity did not apply to terrorist activities.

The Iranian regime has plotted numerous assassinations and terrorist attacks using the cover of its embassies. Many have been foiled, but some have been successful. The regime has systematically hunted down and killed members of dissident groups, including the MEK, and it has gone after minority groups that it felt might threaten its grip on power. Baluchis, Arabs, and Kurds have all been targets of assassinations and kidnappings.

How to End Terrorism in Iran

The international community can help end terrorism in Iran by taking a few steps.

• Close the regime’s embassies and its centers for espionage and terrorism
• Block all international financial transactions by regime agents and entities.
• Expel regime agents from their host countries.
• Publicly expose the regime’s terrorist plots, agents, and front companies.
• Recognize the MEK and NCRI as the viable democratic alternative to the clerical regime.

Ultimately, Iran will not change until it is free and democratic. Only the people of Iran can free themselves, but they need diplomatic support from the international community. The first step is recognizing that the regime has no diplomats and no intention of changing. The second step is acting on this knowledge by acknowledging the people who do. The MEK and the people of Iran stand ready to take back their country.

MEK Iran (follow them on Twitter and Facebook)

and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube