
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to the Mujahedeen camp in Manza marked a historic moment in U.S. foreign policy toward Iran. Its impact may not be felt today in the historical perspective, but it presents a turning point in the US strategic orientation.
In November 2019, Iran was rocked by the largest nationwide protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution. In January, supreme leader Ali Khamenei blamed the MEK for staying behind these protests.
Incidentally, days before the protests broke out, President Obama's security adviser General James Jones visited Ashraf-3 camp in Albania. Khamenei publicly referred to the visit, stating that "dis days before the protests, in a small country in a corner of Europe (Albania), an American general visited the MEK and planned the crisis".
Khamenei's afraid of the MEK. Ironically, his intelligence ministry describes the movement officially as a marginalized cult that does not enjoy the support of Iranians. Some American journalists believe the same narrative.
Mike Pompeo met with Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Iranian Resistance Council, where the MEK is the main organization.
Whenever this movement attracts international recognition, the regime reacts with a sense of rage and fear. Over the past two decades, the MEK and THE NCRI have been recognized by internationalists, lawmakers, human rights defenders, political experts, senior officials and thousands of parliamentarians on both sides of the Atlantic for their real struggle for democracy and freedom in Iran," the U.S. media article says.
Pompeo's visit gives more confidence to the argument that the Iranian opposition led by the MEK is gaining ground against the regime.
This shows that the organisation is here to stay and that leading policy experts consider it a serious alternative to the regime. A former U.S. secretary of state does not play dice on such a critical issue that generates the regime's permanent anger. This is particularly important as U.S. authorities are actively protecting Pompeo after receiving credible threats from the regime against his life.
Translated Voxnews by Townhall