Beginning of the end for MKO terror cult as Iran marks 7 Tir massacre anniv.

By Xavier Villar

Last week, there were reports about the Albanian police carrying out a search operation at a complex on the outskirts of Tirana that hosts the anti-Iran terror cult, Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MKO).

According to Albanian authorities, the search operation was carried out to investigate illegal activities carried out by the notorious terror cult, including cyber-attacks, at the Ashraf-3 complex.

The members of the cult, eyewitnesses said, obstructed the path of policemen and prevented them from carrying out the search, which resulted in the death of one prominent member of the terror cult and injury to many others.

The slain MKO member had a history of terror operations, according to MKO watchers, and his death is still shrouded in mystery, with Albanian pólice rejecting reports about its hand.

As we mark the 42nd anniversary of the Hafte Tir massacre on Wednesday, which took place on June 28 198, and martyred among other then-chief justice of Iran Ayatollah Mohammed Beheshti, it’s time to look back at the history of MKO’s terror campaigns against the Iranian nation.

The history of the group, which is a combination of a cult enveloped in leftist rhetoric, dates back to the 1960s. Coinciding with the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, the group embarked on a terrorist campaign to overthrow the newly formed republic.

One of those campaigns, arguably one of the most significant, took place on June 28, 1981, which corresponds with 7 Tir on the Iranian calendar. On that date, a massive explosion rocked the headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party of Iran, which was in power at the time.

The terrorist attack resulted in the martyrdom of at least 74 government officials, including the country's top judiciary figure, Ayatollah Beheshti, as well as over 20 members of parliament who had gathered that Sunday afternoon in southern Tehran.

That ghastly attack considered the deadliest in the history of the Islamic Republic, is still remembered today as the Haft-e-Tir bombing, named after the date it occurred according to the Iranian calendar.

Today, there is a metro station in central Tehran named "Martyrs of Haft-e-Tir" as a tribute to the victims of that attack, and many roundabouts across the country have been named after it.

Two months later, President Mohammad Ali Rajaei, Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar, and three other senior officials lost their lives when an explosive, concealed in a briefcase, detonated inside the premises of the prime minister's office in Tehran.

The MKO terror cult then allied with Saddam Hussein during Iraq’s imposed war on Iran in the 1980s, joining the Iraqi dictator and his Western patrons in their brutal onslaught against the Iranian nation immediately after the Islamic Revolution.

The majority of Iranians view the terror cult, responsible for the deaths of approximately 17,000 people since 1979, as "vatan foroosh," or "traitors to the homeland" in Farsi.

This political expression signifies not only their aim to overthrow the Islamic Republic but also their alliances with regional and international forces sharing the common agenda of regime change in Iran through violence and bloodshed.

It was precisely this political horizon that led Imam Khomeini to describe the MKO as "hypocrites."

In the Quranic language, the term munafiqun specifically refers to a group of individuals in Medina who outwardly portrayed themselves as members of the Muslim community but secretly aligned themselves with the Prophet's enemies.

Within this Quranic grammar, hypocrisy is strongly condemned, and believers are urged to ensure that their actions align with their words. Hypocrisy is closely associated with the concealment of truth.

From a political-theological perspective, this concealment of truth entails the construction of a political system based on illegitimate foundations, detached from the pursuit of justice (known as adl in the Quranic language), which should guide any political framework that identifies itself as Islamic.

The MKO group represents a departure from the notion of justice as the ultimate horizon that should guide any Islamic entity.

From a discursive standpoint, the MKO, in its attacks against the Islamic Republic, has become another piece of the political machinery that involves the United States and the Zionist entity.

Here it’s also important to consider the efforts of the European Union and the United States to portray the group as a legitimate political option years after they removed it from the list of "terrorist organizations".

Furthermore, the existence of the Ashraf-3 complex in Albania cannot be fully grasped without considering the mediation and influence of the United States.

The group perfectly fits the definition of hypocrites given by Imam Khomeini.

This definition is explained by quoting the Imam's own words that “the West and its internal accomplices seek to keep our people oppressed and subjugated."

However, the incident in Albania points to the beginning of the end of this West-backed terror cult, and it coincides with yet another anniversary of the Haft Tir massacre.

Xavier Villar is a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies and researcher who divides his time between Spain and Iran.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV)

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