BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) – Iran's government is seeking French support to keep a prominent exiled opposition group on the European Union's list of terrorist organizations, the group claimed Wednesday.
The People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran [PMOI/MEK] says Tehran is focusing its pressure on France after a British court ruling last month that invalidated British evidence forming the basis for the EU's 2002 decision to blacklist the group.
Iran has denounced the British court decision. EU diplomats fear taking the group off the list would provoke a furious reaction from Tehran and derail talks on Iran's nuclear program, which the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana is hoping to relaunch with a visit to the Iranian capital this weekend.
If the court ruling forces the British government to withdraw its original complaint, the EU will have to remove the People's Mujahedeen [PMOI/MEK] from the list, unless another European government makes a fresh demand for its inclusion, said Jean-Pierre Spitzer, the group's French lawyer.
The People's Mujahedeen's supporters say they had evidence the Iranians have had several meeting with French diplomats to persuade Paris to lodge a request to keep the group on the list.
«Tehran's main target has been the French government,» said Mohammad Mohaddessin, foreign affairs chief of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which includes the People's Mujahedeen [PMOI/MEK].
Following the May 7 British ruling, the People's Mujahedeen had hoped the EU would remove it from the terrorist list in a midyear review this month. However, Spitzer told a news conference he feared the EU would use British Parliament delays in confirming the legal decision that could allow the EU to keep the group on the list for another six months to avoid upsetting Tehran.
Mohaddessin claimed Iran has warned of the negative impact on French interests in Lebanon if Paris did not try to keep the People's Mujahedeen remain on the list. Iran backs the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.
Solana is expected to make his first visit to Tehran in two years this weekend to present Iran with an international package of incentives in exchange for stopping its nuclear enrichment program.
Mohaddessin said he was hopeful the U.S. would decide to take the People's Mujahedeen off its terrorist list in an October review. It has been on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist organizations since 1997.
The group says it renounced violence in 2001
