Bolton Admits Receiving Money From MKO

Date: 17 October 2020 - 22:09

News ID: ۸۳۹۳۶

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Former U.S. national security advisor John Bolton has admitted receiving tens of thousands of dollars from the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) when the group was still a banned terrorist outfit and not removed from Washington’s blacklist.
In an interview with Al Jazeera’s Presenter Mehdi Hassan, the Iran hawk was asked to expound on his long-time animosity with the Islamic Republic as well as his relationship with the MKO, which has long been responsible for death, assassination and torture of thousands of Iranians.
"How much of your antipathy towards Iran is to do with geopolitics, and how much is to do with the fact that you have a long association with a group called MKO which was once a terrorist group banned by the state department while you worked there?” Hassan asked Bolton.
"You don’t mention that in your book; I looked in your book and there was no mention of the MKO. I think you took tens of thousands of dollars for several speeches. I just wonder how much that influences you policy on Iran?” he said.
The former U.S. national security advisor adopted a confident posture and responded, "You know that I took tens of thousands of dollars for speeches in liberal universities in the United States.”
Bolton sought to muddle over the question, saying it was in fact former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton who the MKO off the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.
Bolton’s retort was swiftly brushed aside by Hassan who said, "She took it off in 2012 and you spoke with them in 2010 when they were still a banned group.”
"You were in Paris speaking at a MKO rally in 2010 when they were still a banned group according to the State Department,” he added.
The MKO has conducted many assassinations and bombings against Iranian officials and civilians since the 1979 victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution. It notoriously sided with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during his 1980-88 war on Iran.
Out of the nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist assaults since the Revolution, about 12,000 fell victim to the MKO’s acts of terror.
The terrorist outfit was on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations until 2012. Major European countries, including France, have also removed it from their blacklists. The anti-Iran terrorists enjoy freedom of activity in the U.S. and Europe, and even hold meetings with American and EU officials.
Europe is home to the rogue entity and American taxpayers’ money has funded the atrocities of the corrupt grouplet.
Bolton, along with U.S. and European figures, including President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, have attended several annual conferences held by the MKO.