The Mujahedin al Khalq, or MKO, is, after the Iranian regime itself, the most hated group inside Iran. It allied with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to enable the Islamic Revolution but, after a falling out, launched a terrorist campaign inside Iran. The MKO also cast its lot with Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Its leader, Maryam Rajavi, rules with an iron fist over the organization and insists upon the same head covering that Iranians risk their lives to shed. Far from supporting women’s rights, the group tells women whom they can marry and forcibly divorces them. In short, it is a cult.
Still, by reportedly forcing members to live in group homes and donate their earnings, the group has accumulated a significant cash pot. Acting through a number of proxy and shell organizations, the MKO has enticed numerous former political officials to endorse the group as a quid pro quo for generous honoraria or perhaps campaign contributions. The bipartisan stable of officials speaking at MKO events or endorsing Rajavi is large: Brad Sherman (D-CA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, for example. The number of European politicians accepting donations or honoraria is even greater.
While MKO propaganda is slick, the protests should put an end to the lie that the group has support inside Iran. Rather, it is now clear the MKO (like the National Iranian American Council) has been a grifter on the backs of ordinary Iranians. If those officials who have received MKO largesse or donations truly care about Iran and its people as they declare in the five-minute speeches for which they can get paid upward of $50,000, then perhaps it is time to put their money where their mouths are.
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When politicians receive donations from dishonest or embarrassing sources, they return the donation. With protests ongoing despite horrific violence and public executions, perhaps a better strategy for these current and former officials who have taken questionable donations or honorariums from the MKO would be to redirect it to the Iranian protesters themselves.
What Iranians need most are strike funds so that they can remain on the streets but still feed their families. Families whose breadwinners are under arrest also need help. While it can be difficult to get Starlink receivers into Iran, cash is another story. Dubai is a pressure-relief valve for the Iranian economy. For this reason, the Iranian regime cannot stop the trade or money flow; the Iranian government simply has too much money tied up in the city. Even if the Islamic Republic tries to prevent Iranians returning from Dubai with hard currency, they can transfer cash in other ways. Iranians, for example, can acquire electronics and other goods with false invoices and then sell them inside Iran for liquidity.
While the protests will not lead to regime change if the protesters are unable to advance a political platform, they have ended the illusion of legitimacy the regime claimed. Security forces now seek to crush the protests with extreme violence, for example, seeking to shoot women in the face or genitals. Rather than pocket MKO cash in exchange for empty virtue-signaling, recipients could redirect those funds to support the medical care of injured Iranians at clinics along Iran’s periphery in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, or Iraq.
For too long, the MKO has scammed Western leaders in order to pump up its political Ponzi scheme. The Iranians, themselves, now show the irrelevance of the group. As penance for their greed or naivete, it is time the recipients of MKO funds make amends with ordinary Iranians and assist them in their efforts to resist the Islamic Republic. Simply put, it is the right thing to do.
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Michael Rubin (@mrubin1971) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential. He is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
