MKO, Israel lobby favor new anti-Iran sanctions

Fearing of a friendlier US-Iran relation, Mujahedin-e Khalq and Israel lobby once again gathered on the Capitol Hill to criticize “American diplomacy with Iran”.

Featuring the former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, former Ambassador to Morocco Marc Ginsberg, General James L. Jones, and former US Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation Robert Joseph, the briefing, held on Wednesday, was sponsored by the Iranian-American Community of Arkansas, an MKO-affiliated organization in the US.

In his speech, Howard Dean said that no agreement should be signed until the administration agrees to take in 3,000 MEK refugees from Camp Ashraf.

Asked after his speech whether he was still being paid by the MEK, as he has acknowledged in the past, Dean said “I don’t answer questions like that. I’m interested in human rights, reporters are always interested in that. I don’t play the game, sorry.”

According to Jason Ditz from Antiwar.com, the MeK is putting a lot of effort behind the same Senate sanctions bill that the Israel Lobby is so staunchly behind. The bill would violate the Iran deal by imposing new sanctions, and would effectively kill negotiations.

“The group appears to still envision itself being the benefactors of US-imposed regime change in Iran, and is willing to pull out all the stops to see to it that diplomacy does not succeed and rapprochement remains impossible,” he added.