Iran warns US after armed opposition claim protected status

Agence France Presse
July 26, 2004

TEHRAN, July 26 - The Iranian government gave a cautious warning to the United States on Monday after the main Iranian armed opposition group claimed the US-led coalition had granted its militants in Iraq protected status.

"I have no information about the truth of such a thing," government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh told reporters, the day after its public enemy number one boasted it was now immune from being handed over.

But even though Ramazanzadeh said the "hypocrites" -- as the People's Mujahedeen are referred to by the Iranian regime -- have "never told the truth", he did warn Washington against making any concessions towards the group.

"The attitude towards the hypocrites in Iraq will show the truth of the claims from anybody who claims to be fighting terrorism globally," he said.

"We hope the ones who accuse others of supporting terrorism act honestly themselves," he added, a clear reference to fresh US allegations of an Iranian link to the Al-Qaeda network.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran said Sunday it had received notification from coalition commanders that People's Mujahedeen fighters confined to camp in Iraq since last year's US-led invasion had been accorded recognition as protected non-combattants under the fourth Geneva Convention.

No confirmation from the US-led coalition was immediately available.

Iran has been pushing for repatriation of the several thousand Mujahedeen fighters under US military guard at Camp Ashraf northeast of Baghdad, and last December Iraq's coalition-installed interim leadership voted unanimously to expel them.

The People's Mujahedeen set up base in Iraq in 1986 and carried out regular cross-border raids into Iran, with which Iraq fought a bloody war between 1980 and 1988.

The group also participated in Saddam Hussein's crackdown on an uprising by Shiites and Kurds in 1991.

Several thousand Mujahedeen militiamen were disarmed by US forces following the fall of president Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003 and barred from undertaking military operations.

Both the United States and the European Union have officially listed the group as a terrorist organisation.

But their fate has been a prickly question for Washington as it prosecutes its worldwide war on terror, with some US officials espousing their possible use against Iran -- lumped into an "axis of evil" by US President George W. Bush -- should "regime change" in Tehran become a formal US policy.

The National Council statement said that the coalition had undertaken to provide continued protection for the Mujahedeen fighters at Camp Ashraf.

While recognition as protected individuals removes controls on the fighters' movement, potentially allowing them to emigrate to third countries, a National Council official said all were likely to stay as they wanted to remain close to Iran.

If the claims are confirmed, such a step would be certain to further damage the already appalling relations between Tehran and Washington.

Furthermore, Iran could dig in on its refusal to extradite senior al-Qaeda operatives it has detained here. Negotiations between Iran and the US on a possible swap of Al-Qaeda and Mujahedeen detainees reportedly broke down last year.