TEHRAN – Iran has condemned the European Unions’ decision to remove the Mojahedin Khalq Organization form its terror list.

“The Islamic Republic vehemently condemns the EU’s unacceptable action and is deeply sorry that the EU is cooperating with terrorists in order to achieve its temporary and illegitimate goals,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Iran said the decision “runs counter to international law and the EU’s commitments to international anti-terrorism treaties including the UN Security Council Resolution 1373.”
The European Union has de-listed a terrorist group whose “hands are stained with the blood of thousands of innocent Iranians”, the statement said.
“Removing one of the most notorious terrorist groups from terror list will encourage terrorism.”
“This decision is taken at a time when this terrorist group has never renounced violence and has resorted to terrorism. It never changed its strategy which is based on violence and armed campaign… Its leaders and terrorist members never changed their procedure and never put aside weapons. They never denied their terrorist acts including a wide range of terror attacks against Iranian and Iraqi people and cooperating with the Saddam regime.”
It said the EU’s move coincides with its “double standards towards Israel’s attacks on Gaza and the massacre of defenseless Palestinian women and children which has outraged the world. This shows that the EU is not serious in fight on terror.”
According to the AP the 27 foreign ministers of the EU have also voted to lift restrictions on the funds of Mojahedin Khalq Organization which means that as of Tuesday the assets of the group will be unfrozen. It is the first time an organization has been “de-listed” by the EU.
The group had been blacklisted as a terror organization by the EU since 2002, but waged a long legal battle in the EU's court of justice to reverse that decision. Several EU court decisions went in the group’s favor, concluding the EU had failed to properly explain why it froze the assets of the Paris-based group.
The group however, remains on the United States terror list. It was blacklisted by Washington in 1997.
AP quoted Czech European Affairs Minister Alexandr Vondra as saying that if new evidence comes to light linking the group to terror activities, the EU “could decide to re-include the group” on a list that includes 60 groups and individuals.
The MKO established a camp for about 3,500 members in Iraq, which its forces used to launch cross-border attacks into Iran. It fought alongside Saddam Hussein’s forces during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
After U.S.-led forces overthrew Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, American troops removed the Iranian group’s weapons and confined its fighters to the camp.
However, it maintains a camp fighters in Iraq, north of Baghdad. Iraqi officials on Saturday called on the group to shut down the camp and move to another country.
Meanwhile Iran’s Majlis speaker Ali Larijani said the de-listing of the MKO is “unprincipled and runs counter to international norms.”
He called on the Foreign Ministry to report to Majlis about Iran’s plans on how to respond to the EU’s decision.