Iranian opposition hits back at US allegations

Agence France Presse

March 25, 2000

NICOSIA, March 25 - Iran's armed opposition, the People's Mujahedeen, hit back Saturday at US State Department allegations that Iraq had use tens of millions of dollars earned from smuggling oil to build a base for the group.

In a statement faxed to AFP in Nicosia, the Iraq-based Mujahedeen said that its "bases and centres have all been built from their own funds, raised from contributions by the people of Iran.

"A plethora of documents backing this assertion is available for anyone interested and can be published."

The State Department Friday released a satellite photograph showing military installations located in the city of Faluja, west of Baghdad, that US officials say can accommodate between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters.

"It will be used to coordinate MEK terrorist activities and to plan attacks against targets in Iran and elsewhere," said State Department spokesman James Rubin.

MEK is an acronym for the People's Mujahedeen, which for the past three years has been designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization.

The Mujahedeen retorted Saturday, "There is nothing secret or hidden about the camps and centres of ... the Iranian Resistance in the Iran-Iraq border region, Baghdad and west of Baghdad."

These bases had come under attack 88 times by "the religious, terrorist dictatorship ruling Iran" since 1993, it said.

They had also been visited by UN weapons inspectors in Iraq, who acknowledged they were not under Iraqi control, the statement added.

Camp Bagherzadeh, the site featured in the State Department photograph, was nothing new, it said, having been inspected by UNSCOM in September 1997 and visited by foreign journalists on dozens of occasions.

US State Department spokesman James Rubin said Friday that by releasing the satellite photo the United States wanted to illustrate "the threat that Saddam Hussein poses because of his willingness to spend money that he has to provide direct state sponsorship for terrorism."

The State Department action came as the UN Security Council was discussing the humanitarian situation in Iraq after nine years of international sanctions.

The Mujahedeen statement noted that the New York Times quoted a senior US official as saying "this is a propaganda campaign" being used against any easing of the sanctions.

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