Iran

Iran bashes Egyptian politicians for attending MEK meeting in Paris

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Iran’s foreign ministry has protested the presence of a number of Egyptian politicians and parliamentarians at a Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) gathering in Paris this week, describing it as a direct interference in the affairs of the Islamic Republic.

Tehran “expects Egyptian officials to take the course of peace and stability in the region with principled and responsible policies,” said the Iranian foreign ministry’s middle east and north Africa section on Thursday.

The foreign ministry also summoned head of the office of Egypt’s interests in Tehran to answer for his country’s attendance at the Paris MEK gathering.

MEK leaders held a major gathering in Paris this week on the first anniversary of Iran’s nuclear deal with the western powers titled Free Iran.

Relations between Tehran and Cairo were severed following the Islamic revolution of 1979. Egypt has for its part condemned the naming of a major street in the Iranian capital after the assassin of the country’s former president Anwar Sadat.

Iranian leaders were angered by the presence of many Arab politicians and former officials at the MEK gathering including Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal who called for the downfall of the Iranian regime in a speech.

Al-Faisal said Iran was supporting terrorism and sectarianism in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon and praised the MEK for their opposition to Tehran.

The Iranian foreign ministry also sent a message of protest to France for the presence of French politicians at the MEK gathering.

Tehran counts MEK as a terrorist organization that has been behind a number of assassinations and bombings in the Iranian capital especially in the 1980s. Many MEK members were executed in Tehran in the mid 1980s after leaders of the group and Iran's clerical authorities fell out over the governing system in Iran.

The MEK was removed from the US list of terrorist organizations in 201

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