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Press TV, February 13 2020:… The United States’ point man on Iran met with a representative of the anti-Iran Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group both before and after Washington’s assassination of senior Iranian commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, a report says. Brian Hook, the US’s special representative for Iran and senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, held the meetings with Robert G. Joseph, who represents the so-called National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in September 2019 and on January 31, American news and opinion website The Daily Beast reported on Tuesday. On its website, the NCRI calls itself the MKO’s “umbrella coalition,” but many consider the two to be synonymous. Brian Hook Met MKO Rep. Before And After Soleimani’s Assassination
Brian Hook Met MKO Rep. Before And After Soleimani’s Assassination
Brian Hook, the US special representative for Iran and senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
The United States’ point man on Iran met with a representative of the anti-Iran Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group both before and after Washington’s assassination of senior Iranian commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, a report says.
Brian Hook, the US’s special representative for Iran and senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, held the meetings with Robert G. Joseph, who represents the so-called National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in September 2019 and on January 31, American news and opinion website The Daily Beast reported on Tuesday.
On its website, the NCRI calls itself the MKO’s “umbrella coalition,” but many consider the two to be synonymous.
Joseph referred to the meetings in a semi-annual report he filed with the US Justice Department earlier this week in line with the US’s Foreign Agent Registration Act.
The US assassinated General Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and a number of others in a set of drone strikes targeting Baghdad’s civilian airport on January 3.
Assassination of Qassem Soleimani Spells End of Regime Change
General Soleimani, who had earned reputation as the region’s most popular anti-terror military figure, was on an official visit to the Iraqi capital when the attack took place.
Joseph, a former senior State Department official under President George W. Bush, advises the NCRI at $15,000 a month. Relentlessly an Iran hawk, Joseph told a meeting of the group last March that he hoped that the Iranian government would soon fall.
The MKO has conducted a litany of assassinations and bombings against Iranian officials and civilians since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It notoriously sided with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during Iraq’s Western-backed war of 1980-88 against the Islamic Republic.
Out of the nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist assaults since the Revolution’s victory, about 12,000 have fallen victim to the MKO’s acts of terror.
The terrorist outfit was on the US’s list of terrorist organizations until 2012.
If Soleimani Is A Terrorist , When Will The US De-list ISIL?
Many other Western states have crossed its name out on their blacklists, too. The NCRI has its headquarters in Paris, which also serves as the venue for the MKO’s annual conferences.
The group throws lavish conferences every year in the French capital, with certain American, Western, and Saudi Arabian officials in attendance as guests of honor. These include former US national security advisor John Bolton, US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, and former Saudi Arabian spy chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal.
MEK Thirst for blood : How one terror group killed 12k Iranians
Also in January, Giuliani told The Daily Beast that General Soleimani had been “directly responsible for killing some of my MEK (MKO) people,” adding, “We don’t like him very much.”
Evidence once showed that Bolton had received a $40,000 “speaking fee” to address an annual MKO gathering.
Today the world's catching on to @AmbJohnBolton’s chronic warmongering. But Iranians didn’t need to read a 10,000 word @NewYorker profile to be convinced: we've seen him shill for a cult terror group, and—along with his #B_Team accomplices—target Iranians with #EconomicTerrorism. pic.twitter.com/8n0UHyXOyq
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) April 30, 2019
Last June, the MKO informed its members through an internal communiqué that it would “welcome” the assassination of General Soleimani and Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raeisi.
The NCRI hailed General Soleimani’s assassination in a blog post following the airstrikes.
Shortly after the US airstrikes, Pompeo circulated a memo to all American embassies barring “direct US government engagement with” MKO’s representatives, citing its controversial history, including alleged role in the assassination of three US army officers and three civilian contractors, The Daily Beast said.
He, however, walked back from the warning later, leaving the door open to such engagement. “Posts should welcome opportunities to meet with and learn from members of the Iranian diaspora community,” he advised American diplomats in a cable overriding the memo.
Pompeo himself spoke at an event that included MKO representatives last year.
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Brian Hook Met MKO Rep. Before And After Soleimani’s Assassination
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Also read:
https://iran-interlink.org/wordpress/mek-feeds-brian-hook-though-their-lobbyist-robert-g-joseph/
MEK Feeds Brian Hook Though Their Lobbyist Robert G. Joseph
Lachlan Markay, The Daily Beast, February 12 2020:… Brian Hook, a senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the U.S. Special Representative for Iran, met on January 31 with Robert G. Joseph, a former senior State official who now represents the National Council of Resistance of Iran, according to a foreign agent filing that Joseph submitted to the Justice Department this week. The NCRI is the political arm of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran—commonly known by Farsi acronym, MEK—a group that seeks regime change in Iran and was on the U.S. government’s official list of foreign terrorist organizations until 2012. Joseph’s meeting with Hook came just a few weeks after a U.S. airstrike killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top military commander. The MEK had long seen Soleimani as one of Iran’s foremost villains. In a blog post hailing his death, the NCRI described him as “an infamous symbol of the regime’s intimidation and murder.” MEK Feeds Brian Hook Though Their Lobbyist Robert G. Joseph
Pompeo Set To Back The Wrong Group Again (MEK, Rajavi cult)
MEK Feeds Brian Hook Though Their Lobbyist Robert G. Joseph
Trump’s Iran Man Met With a Former Terror Group’s Rep After Soleimani Strike
A representative for Iran’s most controversial dissident outfit scored a meeting with Trump’s Iran point man weeks after the U.S. killed the group’s longtime adversary.
The Trump administration’s top official overseeing Iran policy met with a representative of a controversial Iranian dissident group weeks after a U.S. strike killed Iran’s top military leader.
Brian Hook, a senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the U.S. Special Representative for Iran, met on January 31 with Robert G. Joseph, a former senior State official who now represents the National Council of Resistance of Iran, according to a foreign agent filing that Joseph submitted to the Justice Department this week. The NCRI is the political arm of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran—commonly known by Farsi acronym, MEK—a group that seeks regime change in Iran and was on the U.S. government’s official list of foreign terrorist organizations until 2012.
Joseph’s meeting with Hook came just a few weeks after a U.S. airstrike killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top military commander. The MEK had long seen Soleimani as one of Iran’s foremost villains. In a blog post hailing his death, the NCRI described him as “an infamous symbol of the regime’s intimidation and murder.”
Soleimani was “directly responsible for killing some of my MEK people,” Rudy Giuliani, a long-time ally of the group, told The Daily Beast in January. “We don’t like him very much.”
Yet, in the wake of that strike, Pompeo circulated a memo barring American officials from meeting with representatives of the MEK, citing its controversial history—it allegedly played a role in the assassination of three U.S. Army officers and three more civilian contractors—and poor public standing in Iran.
Neither Hook nor the State Department press office responded to requests for additional information on the meeting. Joseph also did not respond to a request for comment.
The meeting with Hook was one of three of U.S. government contacts reported in Joseph’s semi-annual filing under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, but the only one that took place after the Soleimani strike. Joseph also reported meeting with Hook in September, and the following month with Tim Morrison, a former White House National Security Council official who oversaw policy in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Morrison declined to comment on the meeting.
Joseph’s FARA filing does not include any details on what was discussed at each of those meetings. In general, he told the Justice Department, he worked to “provide advice to NCRI officials on a range of issues, including: how best to counter false narratives about NCRI; how to improve the reach and effectiveness of the NCRI work on Iran’s sponsorship ofterrorism, regional aggression and its nuclear program; and how to advance the cause of building a free and democratic Iran.”
Joseph also “provid[ed] advice to strengthen the protection and security of former Iranian refugee residents from the former U.S. military camp at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq, who are now residing outside Tirana, Albania,” according to his Justice Department filing.
The NCRI is headquartered in Paris and staffed by Iranian expatriates and exiles, many of whom have faced brutal treatment by the Iranian regime. The group’s website describes it as the MEK’s “umbrella coalition.”
The MEK has long worked to ingratiate itself with key U.S. policymakers, chiefly foreign policy hawks who share a distrust of the Iranian regime. It has forged ties with a number of officials who have served in or advised the Trump administration, including Giuliani and former National Security Advisor John Bolton.
Pompeo himself spoke at an event that included MEK representatives last year. But in January, after Soleimani was killed, he cautioned diplomats against engaging with either the MEK or the NCRI. “Direct U.S. government engagement with these groups could prove counterproductive to our policy goal of seeking a comprehensive deal with the Iranian regime that addresses its destabilizing behavior,” Pompeo wrote in a memo sent to every U.S. embassy.
Days later, State appeared to walk back those comments. It sent a cable to U.S. diplomats, as reported by The Daily Beast at the time, that did not mention the MEK or the NCRI by name, but left the door open to engagement with the groups. It simply advised U.S. officials to “use good judgement” in taking such meetings.
“Posts should welcome opportunities to meet with and learn from members of the Iranian diaspora community,” advised the cable, which explicitly superseded Pompeo’s memo. “After 40 years of repression and violence at the hands of the Ayatollahs, the Iranian people’s pride in their history has not diminished nor has their resolve to celebrate it in the face of the Islamic republic’s abuses.”
Joseph is a longtime NCRI ally, and signed up to lobby directly for the group in January 2019. He told DOJ at the time that he planned to “interact with Albanian officials, U.S. Embassy, State Department staff, White House, and any other U.S. personnel as required, as well as UN officials.” He’s being paid $15,000 per month for his services.
Prior to his private sector work, Joseph oversaw nuclear nonproliferation and arms control policies as a senior official in George W. Bush’s State Department. He took a hard line on Iran in that position, according to contemporaneous reports.
More recently, at an NCRI event in March 2019, Joseph expressed his hope that Tehran’s government would soon fall. “The efforts that are being made by…many in this room, I am confident, will result in the rebirth of the great Persian nation and light replacing the darkness,” he said. “The darkness that is brought to us by the brutal, repressive dictatorship of the Mullahs.”
MEK Feeds Brian Hook Though Their Lobbyist Robert G. Joseph
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Also read:
https://iran-interlink.org/wordpress/1500-victims-pompeo-uses-mek-fabrications/
1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications
The Statesman, December 29 2019:… Earlier this month, the US said that Iranian authorities may have killed more than 1,000 people in a crackdown on demonstrations in mid-November. In his series of tweets, Pompeo cites to a much higher death toll that has already been listed by certain media outlets, as well as the exiled Mujahedin-e-Khalq, the formerly armed opposition that is fiercely critical of the regime and has cultivated close ties with the Trump administration. 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications
Pompeo Set To Back The Wrong Group Again (MEK, Rajavi cult)
1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accuses Iran of suppressing protest memorials
1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications.
The massive violent protests broke out on November 15 across Iran, whose economy has suffered under sweeping sanctions from the United States, after the government abruptly hiked fuel prices.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday lashed out at Iran for using “violence” and censorship to prevent memorials for those killed during the suppression of recent protests.
Taking to Twitter, Pompeo said, “The Iranian people have the right to mourn 1,500 victims slaughtered by @khamenei_ir during #IranProtests”, while directly accusing Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Iranian people have the right to mourn 1,500 victims slaughtered by @khamenei_ir during #IranProtests. The regime fears its own citizens, and has once again resorted to violence and shutting down the internet.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) December 27, 2019
According to the Ilna news agency, internet access was effectively cut off Wednesday in multiple Iranian provinces ahead of memorials planned on social media a month after the protests.
“The regime fears its own citizens, and has once again resorted to violence and shutting down the internet,” Pompeo further said.
The massive violent protests broke out on November 15 across Iran, whose economy has suffered under sweeping sanctions from the United States, after the government abruptly hiked fuel prices.
Earlier this month, the US said that Iranian authorities may have killed more than 1,000 people in a crackdown on demonstrations in mid-November.
In his series of tweets, Pompeo cites to a much higher death toll that has already been listed by certain media outlets, as well as the exiled Mujahedin-e-Khalq, the formerly armed opposition that is fiercely critical of the regime and has cultivated close ties with the Trump administration.
Over 1,500 killed in the Iranian people’s nationwide uprising, This shocking crime is undoubtedly one of the most horrific crimes of the 21st century and by any measure amounts to a manifest case of crimes against humanity #Iranhttps://t.co/pT8KZoHNkr pic.twitter.com/1yNfpdRBYu
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) December 15, 2019
Earlier in the month, President Rouhani had said that the Islamic republic “will proudly bypass sanctions” by the United States that took effect, targeting the country’s oil and financial sectors.
In September this year, Pompeo blamed Iran fro the drone attack at an oil field in Saudi Arabia which disrupted about the half of the Kingdom’s oil capacity, or 5 per cent of the daily global oil supply.
Last year, after its unilateral exit from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Washington has been piling up pressure on Tehran through a series of sanctions to force it to return to negotiations.
End
1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications
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The MEK’s dirty past includes the anti-Imperialist inspired murder of six Americans in pre-revolution Iran which it later celebrated in songs and publicationsAlso read:
Massoud Khodabandeh, Lobe Log, August 23 2019:… Trump Admin Anti-MEK Memo 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications. So, when Giuliani says we should be “comfortable” with this group, right-minded people the world over can honestly and unequivocally answer, “No, we are not comfortable ignoring this harsh reality just because the MEK amplifies an anti-Iran message to the world, and no, we don’t believe the MEK have any kind of future… US-backed Mujahedin Khalq (MKO) were used Mujahedin-e Khalq Armed Agents Arrested for false-flag killings 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications Trump Admin Anti-MEK Memo MEK Feeds Brian Hook Though Their Lobbyist Robert G. Joseph Brian Hook Met MKO Rep. Before And After Soleimani’s Assassination
Reza Alghurabi, Mehr News, August 22 2019:… Trump Admin Anti-MEK Memo 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications. The terrorist People’s Mojahedin Organization (MEK) is a leftist political organization that was formed in the 1940s and gradually changed in nature into a true cult. The leader of this cult, Masoud Rajavi, has been missing in the past 13 years, just after the US-led war against Iraq in 2003 that toppled Saddam,… US-backed Mujahedin Khalq (MKO) were used Mujahedin-e Khalq Armed Agents Arrested for false-flag killings MKO Role In Riots Verified by Reuters fake news 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications Trump Admin Anti-MEK Memo MEK Feeds Brian Hook Though Their Lobbyist Robert G. Joseph Brian Hook Met MKO Rep. Before And After Soleimani’s Assassination
Professor Tim Anderson, Balkans Post, August 19 2019:… MEK Feeds Brian Hook Trump Admin Anti-MEK Memo 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications. Yes it is quite possible that Albania will de destabilized by U.S. proxies the MEK, and also by DAESH members. Between 2013 and 2016 Washington moved the 2,900 Camp Ashraf MEK members to Albania, where they had also moved some former DAESH/ISIS fighters (Spahiu 2018; Khodabandeh and Khodabandeh 2018). The U.S. and… US-backed Mujahedin Khalq (MKO) were used Mujahedin-e Khalq Armed Agents Arrested for false-flag killings MKO Role In Riots Verified by Reuters fake news 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications Trump Admin Anti-MEK Memo MEK Feeds Brian Hook Though Their Lobbyist Robert G. Joseph Brian Hook Met MKO Rep. Before And After Soleimani’s Assassination
Jonathan Harounoff, Haaretz, August 11 2019:… MEK Feeds Brian Hook Trump Admin Anti-MEK Memo 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications. Massoud Khodabandeh, tells Haaretz in an email interview that the group was no longer the highly organized and influential student-led movement of the ’70s that opposed the shah. By the ’80s, Khodabandeh says, the MEK had evolved almost unrecognizably into a violent, anti-ayatollah and pro-Saddam guerrilla organization that had no clear objectives other than… US-backed Mujahedin Khalq (MKO) were used Mujahedin-e Khalq Armed Agents Arrested for false-flag killings MKO Role In Riots Verified by Reuters fake news 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications Trump Admin Anti-MEK Memo MEK Feeds Brian Hook Though Their Lobbyist Robert G. Joseph Brian Hook Met MKO Rep. Before And After Soleimani’s Assassination
Giorgio Cafiero, Inside Arabia, August 05 2019:… MEK Feeds Brian Hook Trump Admin Anti-MEK Memo 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications. The People’s Mujahedin of Iran, or Mujahedin-e Khalq ( MEK ), has a dark history of violence and acts of terrorism against American interests. Established in the 1960s, the Marxist-Islamist group killed members of the Shah’s security apparatus on the streets of Iranian cities. Anti-American to its core, the MEK quickly earned a… US-backed Mujahedin Khalq (MKO) were used . Mujahedin-e Khalq Armed Agents Arrested for false-flag killings MKO Role In Riots Verified by Reuters fake news 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications Trump Admin Anti-MEK Memo MEK Feeds Brian Hook Though Their Lobbyist Robert G. Joseph Brian Hook Met MKO Rep. Before And After Soleimani’s Assassination
Catherine Shakdam, Citizen truth, August 03 2019:… MEK Feeds Brian Hook Trump Admin Anti-MEK Memo 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications. In an interview for Al Bawaba in 2018 Masoud Khodabandeh, a former high-ranking MKO/MEK official, shed light on Saudi Arabia’s financial support for the group, explaining how Riyadh regime has funneled, gold bars, cash and other valuables worth hundreds of millions of dollars through various third parties. Among other revelations, Khodabandeh described how after the… US-backed Mujahedin Khalq (MKO) were used . Mujahedin-e Khalq Armed Agents Arrested for false-flag killings MKO Role In Riots Verified by Reuters fake news 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications Trump Admin Anti-MEK Memo MEK Feeds Brian Hook Though Their Lobbyist Robert G. Joseph Brian Hook Met MKO Rep. Before And After Soleimani’s Assassination
Gareth Porter, Sputnick News, July 07 2019:… MEK Feeds Brian Hook Trump Admin Anti-MEK Memo 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications. It was based on a series of false ideas that the intelligence communities began with and some maneuvering by high-ranking CIA officials … who interfered with the process of the assessment of Iran’s nuclear program within the CIA,” Porter explained. “It culminated in the approval of this set of documents that came from… US-backed Mujahedin Khalq (MKO) were used . Mujahedin-e Khalq Armed Agents Arrested for false-flag killings MKO Role In Riots Verified by Reuters fake news 1500 Victims? Pompeo Uses MEK Fabrications Trump Admin Anti-MEK Memo MEK Feeds Brian Hook Though Their Lobbyist Robert G. Joseph Brian Hook Met MKO Rep. Before And After Soleimani’s Assassination
