Al-Ahram (Egypt), 30 Sep 2012 – One official in the NCRI Foreign Affairs Commission told Asharq Al-Awsat the PMOI delisting “will provide widespread movement for the organization,” and “strengthen its activities in the US and wherever Iranian immigrants are, and also inside Iran.”
Mousa Afshar described the “victory” that the PMOI achieved as, on one hand, the “result of a judicial campaign” in the US because a high court provided a period of four months to decide – to which the State Department abided by this ruling. And on the other hand, this organization, opposing the regime ruling Iran from the very first day of its foundation, considers its removal from the US list being based on political reasons following tensions in relations between the West and Iran over the Iran’s nuclear dossier and Tehran supporting the Syrian regime.
According to Afshar, in 1997 the West – the US and Europe – sought to send a message of closeness to Iran’s “liberal” president Mohammad Khatami – who had conditioned for the West the designation of the PMOI as a terrorist organization – and today the West, by removing the PMOI from the US list, is sending a reverse message.
Anyhow, according to the PMOI this new development will give this organization “new dynamism”, strengthen its activities and provide support for enhanced actions. According to the mentioned official, their direct goal that they are placing their efforts for is “providing minimum necessities for our brothers in Camp Liberty (in Iraq) numbering at over 3,300; such as freedom of movement and work, and providing communication with the outside world, and coming up with countries that will accept  them.” It is worth noting that 200 Iranians, members of this organization, still remain in Camp Ashraf in Diyala Province near Iran’s borders, to protect their assets and make preparations for their sale in cooperation with the United Nations.
In the political stage, the PMOI seeks to reorganize its ranks inside Iran, which has been under prosecution and repression for years by Iranian officials, and to ride on the new wave of “Beginning the Iran Spring”. In 2009, members of this organization were among the first to take to the streets and many of them have been executed.
The organization gained the West’s change in position for its role in exposing details of Iran’s nuclear program and providing pictures and information from inside the country, allowing this case to be sent to the International Atomic Energy Agency and then the UN Security Council.