US sees Iranian commandos behind deadly Iraq raid - And yet Obama still gave Iran a blank cheque

United States officials have concluded that Iranian commandos were behind a deadly attack that took place earlier this year on Iraqi soil, which targeted a compound populated by Iranian anti-government exiles. 

The attack took place on the evening of September 1, 2013, in Camp Ashraf. The camp is controlled by the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), also known as the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran. 

In 1979, the MEK, which operates under a peculiar breed of Marxist, feminist and Islamic ideology (see photo), began an armed war against Tehran’s Islamic government. Many in MEK’s armed wing resettled on the Iraqi side of the Iraq-Iran border, where they received funding and diplomatic support from the government of Saddam Hussein.

 Although Washington officially considers the MEK to be a terrorist organization, it also views it as a source of valuable intelligence on Iran. It has therefore allowed the group to maintain its control of Camp Ashraf, though it has confiscated much of its weaponry.

 It is estimated that over 50 members of the group were killed in the September 1 attack, while at least seven others are believed to be in Iran, after they were abducted by the attackers. The latter are thought to have comprised of Iranian commandos and Arabic-speaking Iraqi Shiite paramilitaries. 

American officials have said little about the attack; in early December, US Secretary John Kerry refused to comment on the incident during an open-door, unclassified Congressional hearing. But earlier this week, Foreign Policymagazine said it spoke to a US official who was “briefed on the intelligence community’s assessment of the attack”. The official said Washington has concluded that Iran was behind the deadly raid. 

The journal described the incident as “one of the clearest signs yet of Tehran’s growing power within Iraq […] in the wake of the US withdrawal”. It is perhaps worth noting that MEK forces appear to disagree with Washington’s take on the attack. 

The Iranian dissidents believe that the raid was ordered by Tehran, but that it was carried out by Iraqi paramilitaries aligned with the Iranian-controlled Iraqi government.

Intel news .org