(PMOI / MEK Iran): The hope that the Iranian regime will somehow change its leopard spots and become a responsible member of the international community has been disproven time after time.

Have European leaders become savvier about the nature of the Iranian regime, or are they going to continue the policy of appeasement they have followed since at least the signing of the nuclear agreement in 2015? The hope that the Iranian regime will somehow change its leopard spots and become a responsible member of the international community has been disproven time after time, but at least until now, the EU and Britain seem to have ignored the ugly reality of the mullahs’ intentions.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), reported that the most recent actions of the Iranian regime should be enough to change the minds of the most conciliatory of international leaders.

The following is a snapshot of what the mullahs have been up to close to or on European soil:

E.U. residents and joint E.U. / Iranian citizens have been arrested while in Iran on a visit or close by,

They have been charged with espionage or other spurious charges and one has been executed, as is commonly the fate of Iranians within Iran. France-based Ruhollah Zam, who exposed sex and corruption scandals within the Iranian regime, was kidnapped while on a visit to Karbala, in Iraq and then taken to Iran where he was charged and executed.

Another ex-pat. Iranian, Habib Chaab, who lives normally in Sweden,

Now awaits sentencing in Iran after being kidnapped in Turkey. Turkish authorities have already made arrests and accused the Iranian intelligence service (MOIS) of being involved.

Iranian-German dual national, Jamshid Sharmahd,

Was also probably abducted from Dubai earlier in the year.

Assadollah Assadi,

An Iranian diplomat, based in Vienna, has been accused of organizing a bomb attack on an Iranian main opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), rally near Paris in 2018. He is waiting for the verdict of a Belgian court. Prosecutors are confident that Assadi was operating with the full backing of the Iranian regime.

The 2018 bombing was intended to wipe out the (PMOI / MEK Iran)’s leaders and chief supporters and demoralize its remaining members. Assadi was in a key position to plan this attack.

E.U. leaders have become more strident in their criticism of these abductions and executions of Iranian joint EU nationals, certainly compared to the fate of EU and other western citizens who were kidnapped and held to ransom within Iran. Where these latter have found release has usually been after delicate negotiations with Iranian authorities rather than open criticism. This attitude now seems to have changed with a more hard-line response being used.

After the Zam execution, EU ambassadors from four EU nations boycotted a joint EU Iranian business forum in Tehran. The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, also denounced the execution as “barbaric.”

(PMOI / MEK Iran): Zam’s execution triggered condemnation from several European countries as well as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Iran and the Special Rapporteur on Summary Executions.

The Iranian leadership may choose to ignore the effects of its outrages on European public opinion, but polls taken in Europe reveal that the mullahs are definitely not the flavor of the month.

Nuclear deal,

Some EU leaders have also shown stricter attitudes towards Iran over the nuclear deal, especially as video footage of a new Iranian underground nuclear site has been revealed. The regime has been a sharp reminder that it is not to proceed with any uranium enrichment program.

There is a version of a well known European proverb in Iran that depicts the help a turtle gives to a scorpion who cannot cross a river. When helping the scorpion, the turtle is stung. The moral of the story is that it is in the scorpion’s nature to sting, whether it is being helped or not. EU leaders should reflect on this story and recognize that the mullahs also cannot change who they are. The turtle learned from the encounter. Will the EU?

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