{"id":347925,"date":"2026-09-09T17:47:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T16:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=347925"},"modified":"2026-09-09T17:47:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T16:47:49","slug":"five-decades-of-trying-to-explain-away-the-mek-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/demonizing-mek\/five-decades-of-trying-to-explain-away-the-mek-in-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Decades of Trying to Explain Away the MEK in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_345943\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-345943\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-345943\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mek-resistance-units-activism-june-2026.jpg\" alt=\"MEK Resistance Units across Iran undertake daring activities throughout the third week of June 2026\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mek-resistance-units-activism-june-2026.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mek-resistance-units-activism-june-2026-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mek-resistance-units-activism-june-2026-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mek-resistance-units-activism-june-2026-746x420.jpg 746w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mek-resistance-units-activism-june-2026-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mek-resistance-units-activism-june-2026-696x392.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-345943\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">MEK Resistance Units across Iran undertake daring activities throughout the third week of June 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Three-minute read<\/span><\/i><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">For nearly five decades, the clerical establishment in Iran has pursued an unusual political ritual. It declares the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/demonizing-mek\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">(PMOI\/MEK) defeated<\/a>, discredited and devoid of social support\u2014and then explains, in extraordinary detail, who its leaders are, how it organizes, how it recruits, how it influences protests and why Iranians should fear it.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The latest example came on September 8, 2026, two days after Ms. Mahnaz Maimanat was elected the MEK\u2019s new Secretary-General. The state-affiliated Rouydad24 did not limit itself to denunciation. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rouydad24.ir\/fa\/news\/469443\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">It published<\/a> a lengthy political and organizational profile titled, \u201cWho is Mahnaz Maimanat? Commander of Eternal Light becomes First Secretary of the MEK.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Ruydad24 proceeded to explain the significance of the Secretary-General\u2019s office, its relationship with the MEK Central Council, Maimanat\u2019s progression through the organization, her family history and even her testimony in the Stockholm prosecution of former Iranian prison official Hamid Noury.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/IRGC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#IRGC<\/a> Intelligence Warns of \u201cDissatisfaction in the Streets\u201d as Fuel Anxiety Rises<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Dq8ltUiUUH\">https:\/\/t.co\/Dq8ltUiUUH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/iran_policy\/status\/2093433148977651720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 28, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">A Five-Decade Pattern<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">This is not new behavior. Since the political confrontation between the MEK and the newly established clerical order began after the 1979 revolution, Tehran has repeatedly reconstructed the organization\u2019s history for each new generation: its early student following, its clashes with the ruling establishment, its leadership, military history, international activity and internal structure.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The remarkable fact is that after almost five decades of executions, imprisonment, censorship and relentless demonization, the regime still considers it necessary to \u201cteach\u201d young Iranians who the MEK is.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The campaign became particularly revealing during the summer of 2026.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">On August 6, 2026, in an extensive examination of MEK strategy, the seminary-affiliated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawzahnews.com\/news\/1413397\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hawza News described<\/a> the development of decentralized \u201cResistance Units\u201d and acknowledged that they had \u201calways played a major role in nationwide protests inside the country.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/Iran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Iran<\/a> News in Brief<br \/>The Friday Prayer Leader of the regime in Kerman, issued a warning regarding the influence of the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/MEK?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MEK<\/a> in Iran&#39;s society.<br \/>Mehdi Arabpour: \u201cYou can see that they are still active. In a recent announcement from one of the security organizations, it was stated\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Htoipe43iX\">pic.twitter.com\/Htoipe43iX<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/iran_policy\/status\/1690665398868258816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 13, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Five days later, on August 11, the IRGC-linked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tasnimnews.ir\/fa\/news\/1405\/05\/20\/3668693\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tasnim News Agency warned<\/a> that MEK media strategy sought to influence Iranian \u201cpublic opinion, especially elites and young people.\u201d Tasnim identified narrative-building, highlighting crises, creating hopelessness and influencing younger generations as components of a broader confrontation in which Iranian public opinion itself had become a battlefield.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">On August 16, Farhikhtegan attacked France for hosting Maryam Rajavi and accused Paris of facilitating a \u201ccognitive war\u201d against the regime. Particularly telling was its complaint about efforts by Simaye Azadi satellite broadcasting to influence Iranian public opinion at \u201ccritical political junctures.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">On July 20, 2026, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein<a href=\"https:\/\/donya-e-eqtesad.com\/%D8%A8%D8%AE%D8%B4-%D8%B3%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%AA-%D8%AE%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86-62\/4283411-%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%86%DB%8C-%D8%A7%DA%98%D9%87-%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%AF-%D8%A8%DB%8C%D8%B4-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%DA%AF%D8%B0%D8%B4%D8%AA%D9%87-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%A8-%D9%86%D9%81%D9%88%D8%B0%DB%8C-%D9%87%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B4%DB%8C%D9%85\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Mohseni-Ejei warned<\/a> senior officials that they must be \u201cmore vigilant than in the past\u201d about the <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Monafeghin<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u2014the regime\u2019s pejorative term for the MEK\u2014and infiltrators. He stressed that such an opponent would not enter society carrying an enemy banner but would appear \u201cwith a mask\u201d and \u201cunder the title of an insider,\u201d seeking to spread rumors and despair. <\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The source material collected for this report records the same warning in full.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/IRGC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#IRGC<\/a>-Linked Media Accuses <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Mojahedineng?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Mojahedineng<\/a> of Targeting Youth Amid Growing Influence<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/prg0rozDEV\">https:\/\/t.co\/prg0rozDEV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/iran_policy\/status\/1907816286588932193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 3, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">What Tehran Is Really Describing<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Then came the security establishment itself. On August 27, 2026, the IRGC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tabnak.ir\/fa\/news\/1391832\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Intelligence Organization warned<\/a> that Iran\u2019s adversaries were seeking to exploit domestic grievances, conduct psychological operations, activate clandestine networks and drive dissatisfaction into street mobilization.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">That statement did not explicitly name the MEK, but placed beside Ejei\u2019s July 20 warning, the Hawza analysis of August 6, Tasnim\u2019s warning of August 11, and Farhikhtegan\u2019s attack of August 16, a consistent threat perception becomes visible: Tehran fears the intersection of organized networks, political messaging, a discontented younger generation and renewed nationwide unrest.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The regime\u2019s difficulty is conceptual as much as political.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">An organization cannot simultaneously be irrelevant and require almost continuous explanation. A movement with no social resonance should not require warnings from the head of the judiciary about concealed adherents, analysis from the theological establishment about its role in nationwide protests, IRGC-media concern about its influence on young people, or detailed profiles of its leadership succession.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/Iran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Iran<\/a> Regime&#39;s MP Warns of <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/MEK?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MEK<\/a>&#39;s Role in Encouraging Dissent<br \/>A member of the Iranian regime\u2019s Majlis (Parliament), warned an open session of Parliament on Tuesday that the MEK is playing an active role in the crises that have engulfed the regime.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/He3YfaYQoM\">https:\/\/t.co\/He3YfaYQoM<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lpAH2TW2zj\">pic.twitter.com\/lpAH2TW2zj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/iran_policy\/status\/1129124907709812737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 16, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Ruydad24\u2019s September 8 article therefore belongs to a much longer continuum. Its significance is not that Iranian state media discussed the MEK. They have done so obsessively since the first years of the clerical dictatorship.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">What matters is what Tehran now feels compelled to explain: organizational continuity, leadership succession, Resistance Units, <a href=\"https:\/\/rahyafteha.ir\/85286\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">influence over youth<\/a>, information warfare and participation in nationwide unrest.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">After nearly five decades, the regime is still trying to persuade Iranians that the MEK does not represent a viable alternative. Yet its own propaganda apparatus tells a different story: the lengthy analyses, the continuous warnings, and the repeated diplomatic encounters in which the MEK becomes a subject of bargaining or a test of the other party\u2019s willingness to accommodate Tehran all point in the opposite direction.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three-minute read&nbsp; For nearly five decades, the clerical establishment in Iran has pursued an unusual political ritual. It declares the People&rsquo;s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK) defeated, discredited and devoid of social support&mdash;and then explains, in extraordinary detail, who its leaders are, how it organizes, how it recruits, how it influences protests and why Iranians [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":345943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,845],"tags":[197,218,222],"class_list":["post-347925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran-resistance","category-demonizing-mek","tag-mek-iran","tag-demonizing-mek","tag-iranian-resistance"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Five Decades of Trying to Explain Away the MEK in Iran - NCRI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Three-minute read\u00a0 For nearly five decades, the clerical establishment in Iran has pursued an unusual political ritual. 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