EU urges U.S. to remove Iran group from terror list

Wall Street Journal: The European Parliament Thursday passed a written declaration calling on the U.S. to remove the People’s Mujahideen of Iran from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

The Wall Street Journal

By JOHN W. MILLER

The European Parliament Thursday passed a written declaration calling on the U.S. to remove the People’s Mujahideen of Iran from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

The resolution became official when more than half the members of the 736-seat chamber signed it, but support was nearly unanimous, a parliament official said. The resolution also called on Iraq to cease its blockade of Camp Ashraf, a settlement of more than 3,000 Iranian dissidents near the border between the two countries.

The People’s Mujahideen, which aims to overthrow the Iranian government, has been on the list since 1997, when the U.S.’s Clinton administration put it there in a bid to secure closer cooperation with Tehran.

In July, a U.S. federal appeals court ordered the State Department to reconsider its decision. The European Union removed the group from its list of terrorist organizations in 2009.

Specifically, the European Parliament demanded that EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton “urge” the U.S. to remove People’s Mujahideen from the list. Mrs. Ashton hasn’t yet responded, a spokeswoman said.