{"id":227360,"date":"2020-10-06T12:09:47","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T11:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=227360"},"modified":"2023-02-01T05:41:13","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T04:41:13","slug":"irans-lobby-in-the-west-and-clerical-regimes-talking-points-against-the-mek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/irans-lobby-in-the-west-and-clerical-regimes-talking-points-against-the-mek\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s Lobby in the West and Clerical Regime\u2019s Talking Points Against the MEK"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Leaving
Ashraf 3, Albania, Home of the MEK members – Call for Justice Conference, July 19<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since failing to destroy the democratic opposition with a massacre of political prisoners in 1988, and executions and attacks afterwards, Iran\u2019s regime has been working tirelessly to delegitimize the Resistance movement in the eyes of the world. These efforts include a steady outpouring of fake news by Iran\u2019s Ministry of Intelligence which targets the leading opposition group, the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI-MEK)<\/a>. But that domestic propaganda is only effective in promoting the regime\u2019s broader objectives because it routinely seeps into global media, thereby muddying international perspectives regarding the prospect for regime change and democratic governance in Iran.<\/p>\n

This is where the Iran Lobbies in the West get involved. They easily disseminate the talking points of the clerical regime against the MEK, with the posture of Iran experts or journalists, in the main stream and social media. The source of the news or analysis, the lobbyist, might look legitimate, but by digging deeper and spotting their talking points it becomes apparent that behind the tie and Western look of the \u201cIran expert\u201d or the \u201cjournalist\u201d you can see the turban of the mullahs. One common label that they use and repeat again and again against the MEK is regime\u2019s narrative that describes the MEK as a cult.<\/p>\n

Since the end of 2017, Iran has been rocked by two nationwide anti-government uprisings and countless smaller-scale protests. No less an authority than the regime\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei acknowledged in a January 2018 speech that the MEK had played a leading role in organizing and facilitating hundreds of ongoing demonstrations. This alone should have spelled doom for the regime\u2019s longstanding narrative that described the MEK as a \u201ccult\u201d and an ineffectual \u201cgrouplet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The apparent problem is simply that Iranian propaganda has been too deeply ingrained in Western media for too long. The MEK and its various Western supporters have worked to root out that influence by routinely exposing the regime\u2019s \u201cnetwork of friendly journalists\u201d and the Iranian intelligence assets who present themselves in the guise of Middle Eastern strategy or Iran experts and former members of the MEK.<\/p>\n

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Iran's disinformation campaign against the MEK via 'friendly journalists'<\/div><\/div>
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