Iran claims the Americans provided deliberate support to a group it has accused of killing 17,000 Iranians over decades.
Tehran, Iran – The Iranian government has blacklisted United States officials for their support of a group Tehran considers a “terrorist” organization.
Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday released a list of 61 current and former US officials it said provided “knowing support” to the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a group that openly calls for the overthrow of Iran’s current establishment.
Several of the individuals, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, had previously been blacklisted by the Iranian government for other reasons.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senators Ted Cruz and Cory Booker and former national security adviser Lincoln Bloomfield were among those sanctioned.
The individuals provided support to the group by participating in its events and “offering political and propaganda support,” Iran’s foreign ministry said.
Iranian officials estimate that the MEK has killed more than 17,000 Iranians over decades, many of them women and children.
The MEK was among the groups that supported Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution that overthrew dynastic rule, but later became one of the main opponents of the clergy and resorted to violence to thwart it.
The group claimed responsibility for numerous assassinations and bombings in the early years after the revolution. It also helped Saddam Hussein in his eight-year invasion of Iran in the 1980s and took arms during the war.
The MEK was also listed as a “terrorist” organization by the US and the European Union, but was delisted more than 10 years ago after pledging to desist from violent operations.
Since then, US officials, especially Republicans who openly support a change of power in Iran, have regularly attended MEK rallies and voiced their support.
The group has also held rallies and is based in several European countries, including France, Sweden and Albania, leading Iranian authorities to accuse those countries of harboring “terrorists”.
Iran first began imposing sanctions on US officials in 2021. Among other things, it blacklisted former President Donald Trump and Pompeo for their roles in ordering and carrying out the assassination of its top general, Qassem Soleimani.
It then expanded that list in January, followed by more sanctions in April on charges of supporting “terrorism” and violating the human rights of the Iranian people through unilateral sanctions.
The sanctions are believed to be largely symbolic as the individuals are not believed to have assets or interests in Iran and are not traveling to the country.
As efforts to restore Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers have stalled, the US has also continued to impose sanctions to further strain Iran’s economy.
The US unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear deal under Trump in 2018 and imposed harsh, sweeping sanctions that President Joe Biden has continued to impose.
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