Was it just a coincidence that as Donald Trump met last Monday with Israel’s Bibi Netanyahu to discuss a future attack against Iran that protests, some accompanied by violence, broke out in several cities in Iran? I am not a believer in coincidence. Following that meeting, the US news media — both print and electronic — was flooded with stories painting the protests as a mighty uprising of the Iranian people. A new revolution has begun… or so the Western public is being told.
One of the major purveyors of this narrative is the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which is an Iranian exile-based political opposition coalition founded in 1981 in Tehran (later relocated to Paris, France, with activities in Albania). It positions itself as a parliament-in-exile and the primary democratic alternative to the Islamic Republic regime. The NCRI advocates for overthrowing the current government and establishing a secular, democratic, pluralistic, and non-nuclear republic in Iran, emphasizing separation of religion and state, gender equality, human rights, and minority rights. And guess what? The NCRI is the creature of a group the US once labeled as a terrorist organization.
The NCRI as a tightly controlled front for the PMOI/MEK, with limited broad support inside Iran. The PMOI was formerly designated a terrorist organization by the US (delisted in 2012) and EU, partly due to past armed actions. The group has been accused of cult-like practices and authoritarian internal structure, though supporters reject these claims and emphasize its democratic platform.
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) or Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), is an Iranian opposition group founded in 1965 with a long history of terrorism in Iran. It is the principal component of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which it describes as its political wing. The People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) has a documented history of violent activities, primarily from the 1970s to the early 2000s, which led to its designation as a terrorist organization by the United States (1997–2012), the European Union (until 2009), and others.
Here is a summary of its terrorist activities since the 1970s:
Pre-1979 Revolution (Against the Shah’s Regime)
1970s attacks on U.S. personnel and interests: The MEK killed several American military officers and civilian contractors in Iran (e.g., Lt. Col. Louis Lee Hawkins in 1973). It also bombed US-linked sites, including Pan-American Airlines, Shell Oil, and hotels.
Other bombings: Targeted police stations, banks, and multinational corporations (e.g., 1973–1975 bombings in Tehran and Isfahan).
These actions were the foundation of its initial designations by the US Government as a terrorist organization..
Post-1979 (Against the Islamic Republic)
1981 bombings: A massive bomb at the Islamic Republic Party headquarters (June 28) killed ~73 officials, including Chief Justice Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti. A second bomb (August 30) killed President Mohammad-Ali Rajaei and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar.
Ongoing assassinations: Targeted clerics, officials, and judges (e.g., Ayatollah Abdol Hossein Dastgheib in 1981 via suicide attack).
1990s operations: Coordinated attacks on Iranian embassies in 13 countries (April 1992), including Iran’s UN mission in New York. Assassinated officials like the deputy chief of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff (1999).
2000–2001 attacks: Mortar raids, hit-and-run operations on military/law enforcement targets near the Iran-Iraq border during “Operation Great Bahman.”
Alliance with Iraq (1980s–1990s)
Supported Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War, launching cross-border attacks from Iraq.
Allegedly assisted in suppressing Shia and Kurdish uprisings in Iraq (1991).
Bet you can’t guess what happened next? Following the March 2003 US-invasion of Iraq, the US government’s relationship with the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) shifted dramatically. Why? Because the US decided to use the PMOI/MEK to attack Iran. Just one more example to the US adopting a terrorist group when it serves its own nefarious purposes.
The US initially confined members of MEK to Camp Ashraf, and held them until July 2004 when the US granted all 3,400 Camp Ashraf residents “protected persons” status under the Fourth Geneva Convention in June–July 2004 (often attributed to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld). US troops guarded the camp, preventing attacks and handling defectors (nearly 600 during U.S. control). In turn, MEK sources provided information on Iranian activities and threats in Iraq, described by U.S. military officials (e.g., Lt. Col. Julie Norman in 2006) as “helpful” in exposing Iranian interventions and saving soldier lives.
One of the strongest advocates for the MEK is John Bolton, Trump’s disgraced former National Security Advisor and ardent Zionist. Bolton attended MEK events as early as 2008 and continued contacts once the MEK was delisted as a terrorist organization (2012). His support aligned with his long-standing hawkish stance on Iran, including calls for bombing and regime change. Speaking at the 2017 Free Iran rally in Paris (widely cited as his most famous MEK speech), Bolton said:
The outcome of the president’s policy review should be to determine that the Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1979 revolution will not last until its 40th birthday… And before 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran! . . . . The declared policy of the United States should be the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime in Tehran… The behavior and the objectives of the regime are not going to change, and therefore the only solution is to change the regime itself.”
During the 2022 Free Iran Summit, Bolton proclaimed:
There is a viable alternative, the alternative that the MEK and the NCRI are working inside Iran to create.
Got the picture? Here is what the NCRI put out today (and it is circulating wildly among the Zionist crowd as proof that their dream of eliminating the Ayatollah is about to be realized):
The nationwide uprising in Iran entered a critical new phase on January 1, 2026. What began on December 28, 2025, as a protest by merchants against a catastrophic currency collapse has, by its fifth consecutive day, metamorphosed into a full-scale political insurrection. As of Thursday, January 1, the distinct line between economic grievance and revolutionary demand has dissolved. From the seizure of government buildings in western provinces to the unprecedented chants against the clergy in their traditional stronghold of Qom, the events of the last 24 hours indicate that the wall of fear protecting the theocracy is rapidly crumbling. . . .
In the capital, Tehran, the economic unrest that sparked the uprising has hardened into political defiance. At the Central Fruit and Vegetable Market (Meidan Tarebar), a vital hub for the city’s food distribution, merchants and protesters stood firm for the second day. Security forces attempted to break the strike using tear gas, but the market remained paralyzed. The slogans here have shifted decisively away from price complaints to fundamental political demands, with crowds chanting “Death to Khamenei” and “No Gaza, No Lebanon, I Sacrifice my Life for Iran.”
The fact of the matter is that the PMOI/MEK/NCRI has been a tool of US and Israeli intelligence services since 2004. MEK has played an important role, especially for Israel, in identifying and assassinating Iran nuclear scientists over the past two decades. MEK’s role at present is to help manufacture protests in Iran and provide a convincing narrative that the Iranian government and the mullahs are in political trouble and will soon be toppled if only the West will intervene. The claim that the rule of the Ayatollah Khameni is on life support or that the government of President Pesezhkian is tottering is nothing more than clever propaganda funded and spread by Western intelligence channels.
Yes, there are real protests in Iran and genuine dissatisfaction with an economy ravaged by inflation that is a direct result of Western sanctions. However, based on my recent conversations with Nima — who is visiting Iran for the first time in twelve years — and Professor Marandi, the Western stories painting a dire picture of Iran is nothing more than a twisted Western fantasy.
Underlying the NCRI propaganda is a renewed effort by Israel, with the support of the US, to launch a new wave of attacks against Iran’s stockpiles of ballistic missiles. Prior to this week I held out hopes that Israel’s June shellacking by Iran would dissuade it from doing it again… I was wrong. Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu was a prelude — and marked the start of a propaganda campaign to justify a new attack — to the next steps that will culminate in a new assault on the Iranian people, which could possibly entail the use of a nuclear weapon by Israel.
Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson and I discussed this issue today with Nima and with Danny Haiphong: