TEHRAN – Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi has described members of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) as U.S. soldiers who do not wear the uniform, expressing his gratitude to the Judiciary and security forces in identifying American spies and bringing them to trial.

“The Monafiqeen are U.S. soldiers without uniform … In different times, including Operation Mersad, they faced with unforgettable measures by the children of this nation,” Raisi said on Sunday, using the term Monafiqeen, which literally means “the hypocrites”, to refer to members of the MEK.

“We will always call for eternal damnation of the Monafiqeen,” he said.

Raisi made the remarks while marking the 31st anniversary of Operation Mersad, which took place from July 26–30 1988. 

The operation, which was the last major military operation of the Iran–Iraq War, Iran conducted a successful counterattack against a military incursion from Iraq. The invasion involved a military force of about 7,000 members of the MEK. 

Raisi referred to the operation as one of the greatest victories of the Islamic Republic against the hegemons.

The MEK was established in the 1960s to express a mixture of Marxism and Islamism. It launched bombing campaigns against the Shah, continuing after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, against the Islamic Republic. Iran accuses the group of being responsible for 17,000 deaths.

Based in Iraq at the time, MEK members were armed and equipped by Iraq to fight against Iran alongside the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during a war which lasted for 8 years.

The MEK’s affiliation to the U.S. government attracted attention in 2012 when the latter removed the former from its list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The link became more overt after U.S. President Donald Trump assumed office in 2017. Trump’s associates, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his national security advisor John Bolton, have attended the MEK’s meetings and praised the cult group as “democratic alternative” to the Islamic Republic.

MH/PA