Another twist to the US's war on terror ... Iran Asks U.S. to Stop Opposition Attacks May 5, 8:05 AM (ET) By ALI AKBAR DAREINI TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran urged the United States on Monday not to allow an Iranian opposition group to attack the country from Iraq. The People's Mujahedeen is on the U.S. State Department's terrorist list, yet it still signed a truce with the United States on April 15 that allowed it to keep weapons to defend itself against Iranian-backed attacks. The group also used to be backed by Saddam Hussein as a way to harass neighboring Iran, with whom he fought a bloody war from 1980-88. "It is unacceptable that the United States uses the terrorist hypocrites as a partner," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said, referring to the Mujahedeen. Asefi cited reports the group was operating in Iraq close to the border and planning armed attacks against Iran. "We have told the countries controlling Iraq through appropriate channels that allowing the group to operate is an insult to the Iraqi people because it played an effective role along with the ousted Iraqi regime in suppressing the Iraqi people," Asefi said. Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week accused America of ridiculing democracy and the fight against terror by agreeing on a cease-fire with the People's Mujahedeen. Asefi said the United States should fulfill its obligations to fight terror. "Categorizing terrorists into good and bad is a violation of international conventions. If the U.S. is sincere about fighting terrorism, it would fight all forms of terror," he said. During the 1970s, the Mujahedeen was accused of murdering several American military personnel and civilians working on defense projects in Iran. It reportedly backed the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 but later broke with Iran's clerical government. The group denies involvement in the killings and the embassy seizure. The cease-fire appears to be a way for Washington to increase pressure on Iran, which it has accused of meddling in Iraq after the collapse of Saddam's regime. But it represents a dilemma for the United States, which went to war in part to dismantle what it said were terrorist networks in Iraq. Asefi confirmed Iran has exchanged messages with U.S. officials about Iraq through the Swiss Embassy, which represents U.S. interests in Tehran. He declined to give details.
