A few months after the victory of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran the so-called Mojahedeen-e-Khalq group headed by Masoud Rajavi found its ideology in contradiction with that of main political groups that supported Ayattolah Khomeini's doctrine aimed at forming an Islamic Republic.
On June 20th, 1981 the MKO decided to engage in armed struggle against the government. Since then MKO operations took the lives of thousands of people in Iran.
The terrorists were responsible for numerous bombings and assassinations against high ranking officials as well as fighting Iranian troops from Iraq standing side by side Saddam Hussein in his eight year war with Iran. Fatemeh Karimzadeh is the widow of Abolqasem Sepehri, a Taylor in south of Tehran who was killed in his shop by MKO terrorists. Fatemeh who has also lost a son in the Iraq Iran war says that MKO members will never have a place in Iran again. Ebrahim Khodabandeh is a former high ranking MKO member who knows the organization inside out. Author of the book "One man-One Day_thirty years" says that despite claims by the group that they would no longer use weapons, arms struggle is still a part of MKO ideology. The group is also believed to be responsible for the killing of thousands of Iraqis during Saddam Hussein when the MKO also operated as mercenaries for the Iraqi regime. Despite its record the MKO is now supported and out of the US and EU terror list a matter which many in Iran regard as hostility towards the Iranian government and the people.