Iran Focus
London, 20 Apr – Last week, Senator John McCain went to Albania where he met a number of the former residents of the Camp Liberty base. The dissidents were finally released from the former US military base last year and many of them have now made Albania their permanent residence. The dissidents at Camp Liberty had been victim to numerous attacks planned by the Iranian regime.
However, they have now all finally been released from Camp Liberty and have the freedom to continue their activism, must to the dismay of the Iranian regime.
Senator McCain also met with the leader of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Maryam Rajavi.
It was no surprise that the mullahs were unhappy about this encounter and claimed it was part of a conspiracy against the Islamic Republic. There were also threats that the US would be made to “pay” for the “mistakes” it has made. This predictable anger is nothing but proof that the Iranian regime is extremely weak and terrified of opposition.
For years, the Iranian regime has attempted to destroy the opposition via various methods including force, violence, false allegations and slander. It is clear that the opposition groups, especially the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), pose a very real threat to the mullahs’ rule.
The threat has got even more real now that the Trump administration is in place. While President Obama was in office, the Iranian regime enjoyed free reign over the Middle East. Obama did not dare call the regime out on its malign activities, let alone sanction it.
In his presidency so far, Trump has put Iran “on notice” after it conducted testing of ballistic missiles and has issued numerous sanctions on Iranian individuals and entities. The Trump administration is also weighing up whether or not to designate the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) as a FTO (Foreign Terrorist Organisation). However, the biggest message was sent to Iran when it launched a strike on its ally in Syria. As well as saying that the United States will not put up with such evil acts (the chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians), it was a challenge to Iran’s position as the main backer of the Syrian regime.
Senator McCain’s visit to Albania to visit dissidents and Maryam Rajavi could perhaps be a step in the direction of cooperation between the US government and the main Iranian opposition. It is true that the NCRI is receiving more and more support from lawmakers in the West, and from all over the world, and it is making the Iranian regime nervous. Cooperation between the US and the Iranian opposition, which has large networks of people all over Iran, will be a positive move for the people of Iran. No one knows more about the Iranian regime and its activities than the main opposition group and it will help the US get foreign policy to counter the regime’s threat right.
