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Every year from July 24 to 26, the Iranian regime commemorates the anniversary of the last major military operation by the National Liberation Army of Iran, celebrating its continued hold on power. Through extensive interviews and elaborate storytelling, officials remind the Iranian people that despite the NLA’s vast and daring efforts, the regime has managed to survive and cling to power.
However, the regime’s televised propaganda and officials’ statements go beyond celebrating survival. They aim to remind their forces to stay united against a real and present threat and to dishearten the new generation increasingly drawn to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
The Iranian Resistance refers to this operation as “Eternal Light,” while the clerical regime calls it “Operation Mersad.”
On July 26, Mohammad-Mehdi Hosseini Hamedani, the Friday prayer leader of Karaj, said, “The anniversary of Operation Mersad is an opportunity to discuss something about the hypocrisy [a pejorative used by the regime to defame the People’s Mojahedin Organization]… Several factors led the hypocrites to carry out this operation. The most important was their incorrect analysis of Iran’s political and military situation. They believed Iran had accepted the resolution due to military weakness and a political deadlock. They planned to move from Iraq within 33 hours, capture Tehran, and overthrow the regime in five stages using 25 brigades.”
MEK’s Impact on the #Iran-Iraq Warhttps://t.co/DQC5tILQhe
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 4, 2023
He continued with regret, “These are the same people who today gather crowds in some countries against the Islamic Republic, make pacts with the enemies of the state, create trouble for the country, and incite the people to dissent. They use propaganda to besmirch our martyrs and hail the terrorists. This continues today.”
He warned, “We must not forget that as long as there is hypocrisy and hypocrites, there is infiltration in our state institutions. We must carefully monitor this hypocrisy.”
Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi, former Minister of Intelligence and current Friday prayer leader of Arak, said, “The MEK had entered the country and were near Kermanshah, in the Charzebar Pass. They did not stop in Islamabad. They sped through in Japanese pickup trucks, hoping to pass Kermanshah.”
State television also reported, “Operation Mersad was the last combat operation of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the eight-year imposed war, with the difference that this time the enemy forces were not Iraqi but rather members of the paramilitary forces known as the National Liberation Army under Massoud Rajavi’s leadership. Operation Mersad was a response to the MEK’s operation known as Eternal Light, which aimed to capture Tehran within a 33-hour timeframe.”
IRGC Commander Shahrokhi narrated, “They started the operation at 2:30 AM, capturing a city every two hours. By midnight, they were supposed to reach Kermanshah, and from there, proceed to Hamedan and eventually Qazvin. Their main goal was to reach Tehran’s Azadi Square within 24 hours. If unsuccessful, they planned to declare an independent government in Kermanshah.”
On July 24, state television interviewed Mohammad-Javad Hasheminejad, a torturer and intelligence officer, absurdly titled as the Secretary-General of the Habilian Organization, to warn various factions within the regime about the threat posed by the MEK.
The program’s narrator reminded viewers, “In 2002, the MEK provided the International Atomic Energy Agency with mixed and false information about Natanz and the Arak heavy water reactor, leading to suspicion about Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities. Their presence in recent internal disturbances [citing popular uprisings] has been so prominent that they are considered a major force for overthrowing and creating chaos in Iran.”
A young Tehran University student questions the inaction of political groups in the face of Iran’s regime crimes in continuing the war while peace was within reach in Iran Iraq war. #IranRevolution #Iran #IranRevoIution2023#مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/7YRRTLWqLN
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) January 22, 2023
Referring to the regime’s sham trials against the MEK, Hasheminejad said, “I must thank the esteemed Judiciary and Mr. Mohseni Ejei, Head of the Judiciary, for finally prosecuting the hypocrites after decades.”
He added, “After Trump left office, we saw Mike Pompeo, a major architect of these plans, along with Mike Pence and many other U.S. officials, attend the hypocrites’ meetings, viewing them as the future leaders of Iran. They see this group as their desired alternative.”
Expressing concern over the MEK’s influence internationally and within Iran, Hasheminejad warned, “Maryam Rajavi, the current leader of the hypocrites, is being encouraged by U.S. and European congresses as a symbol of freedom and prosperity for the Iranian people. Our new generation needs better information about the crimes committed by these groups in the 1980s. Our wise leader foresaw decades ago the enemy’s plan to rewrite history and replace the martyr with the terrorist.”
Nonetheless, no matter how much the clerical regime tries to rewrite history and narrate its version of the truth, the constant repetition of these attempts and the unending need to warn the youth about the “true nature of the MEK” speaks volumes about what is truly going on in the minds and hearts of the Iranian people.
