April 24, 2024

Court orders State Department to review ruling on alleged terror group

The Washington Post
By Glenn Kessler

A federal appeals court on Friday ordered the State Department to review its designation of the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran as a foreign terrorist organization, strongly suggesting the designation should be revoked.
The ruling by the three-judge panel hands yet another foreign-policy hot potato to the Obama administration. The PMOI, also […]

Lawmakers urge Obama to halt relocation of Iran dissidents

Agence France Presse
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US lawmakers Tuesday urged President Barack Obama to stop the Iraqi government’s forced relocation of Iranian dissidents from a border camp that has been closed down. After 24 years at Camp Ashraf, the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI), who were expelled for opposing the Islamic regime of Tehran, on Tuesday […]

US ambassador tries to allay fears about Iranian dissidents in Iraq

Agence France Press
WASHINGTON — Christopher Hill, the US ambassador to Iraq, sought Thursday to reassure lawmakers who fear for the safety of more than
3,000 Iranian dissidents in a camp in Iraq.
Hill, testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the US government would work to ensure that 36 People’s Mujahedeen
members arrested after a […]

Editorial: Camp Ashraf

In a letter to a British parliamentarian last month, a senior State Department official insisted that the United States was “doing its utmost” to ensure that Iraq’s government would treat 3,400 Iranian exiles living at Camp Ashraf in eastern Iraq “humanely.” Two weeks later, a clash between the exiles and Iraqi police left 11 Iranians […]

Iranian Dissidents’ Fate in Iraq Shows Limits of U.S. Sway

By Mark Mazzetti and Mark Landler
New York Times
WASHINGTON — Last September, Gen. David H. Petraeus told reporters in Baghdad that the United States had been assured by the Iraqi government that the 3,400 Iranian dissidents in a camp in eastern Iraq would continue to be protected after the Americans turned over responsibility for the camp […]

Iraqi army storms Iran opposition camp, scores wounded

By Ali Al-Tuwaijri
BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) – Iraqi soldiers and riot police stormed a camp housing Iran’s main exiled opposition on Tuesday, triggering violent clashes that left at least 260 people wounded.
The seizure of Camp Ashraf, which was disarmed by the United States in 2003 and surrounded by American forces until recently, comes after months of […]

With Local Control, New Troubles in Iraq

By Rod Nordland
New York Times
BAGHDAD — Iraqis are in many ways taking to heart the adage that all politics is local, as Americans hand over to them ever greater control of affairs in the provinces. That local control, however, has brought more horror stories than successes in the past few days.
The New York Times
The crime […]

January 26, 2009

[spoiler title=”EU to take Iranian group off terror blacklist”]
January 26, 2009
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) – European Union foreign ministers have decided to remove an Iranian opposition group from the EU’s terror list.
Diplomats say the decision takes affect on Tuesday and ensures that the assets of the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran will be unfrozen.
The move is […]

Vigil over Iran shifts from UN to the White House

By JOHN HEILPRIN – Nov 17, 2008
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iranian demonstrators ended a 65-day vigil outside U.N. headquarters Monday and headed to Washington to seek assurances the United States will continue protecting a disarmed militia in Iraq that opposes Iran’s government. Across from the U.N., demonstrators held signs, chanted and made speeches until Secretary-General […]

United Nations: The Associated Press

November 17, 2008
UNITED NATIONS: Iranian demonstrators ended a 65-day vigil outside U.N. headquarters Monday and headed to Washington to seek assurances the United States will continue protecting family and friends inside Iraq who oppose the Iranian government.
Across from the U.N., demonstrators held signs, chanted and made speeches until Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern about the […]