Iran ‘biggest victim’ of international terrorism, says head of top supervisory body

The secretary of the Guardian Council, Iran's top supervisory body, says the Islamic Republic is "the biggest victim" of international terrorism, slamming the so-called human rights defenders for turning blind eye to it.

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati made the remarks on Wednesday, a day after the country marked its National Day of Fight Against Terrorism.

"Iran has suffered more from terrorist acts than any other country," the senior official said, "while those who lay claim to defending human rights have never wanted to see this reality."

National Day of Fight Against Terrorism, observed every year in the Islamic Republic of Iran with solemn ceremonies, marks the assassination of Iran's then-president Mohammad Ali Rajaei and Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar.

Rajaei and Bahonar and several other officials had convened at the Tehran office of the Iranian prime minister for a meeting of Iran’s Supreme Defense Council when a bomb explosion ripped through the building, killing all of them.

Survivors recounted that a person, identified as Massoud Kashmiri, had brought a briefcase into the conference room and then left.

Subsequent investigations revealed that Kashmiri had been an operative working for the anti-Iran Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization terrorist cult, who had infiltrated the Iranian premier’s office disguised as a state security official.

Ayatollah Jannati said it was ludicrous that the countries that aided MKO in committing crimes against the people of Iran were claiming to fight terrorism.

He said it was strange for "the founders and employers" of terrorism in the world to claim to be fighting the phenomenon, identifying the Israeli regime as "the most principal example of state terrorism."

The senior official noted that the victims of terrorism need their rights restored through legal channels, saying it was the "destruction of terrorist administrations" that would avenge those martyred by acts of terrorism.

In a separate statement on Wednesday, Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights (HCHR), said Iran had lost more than 17,000 people to acts of terror carried out by the MKO terrorist group.

He noted that, despite the atrocities, the terror outfit was being openly supported by the so-called champions of human rights.

The official was referring to the Western countries, including the United States and its European allies, which have removed MEK's name from their lists of terrorist groups and granted its members complete freedom of movement and activity.

"The HCHR raps all forms of terrorism and calls for making a stand against this sinister phenomenon," Gharibabadi said.

The Iranian Embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul also issued a statement on Wednesday, saying Iran was "a victim of terrorism" while being at the "forefront of the fight against terrorism."

"Effective combating of terrorism requires joint international efforts and the avoidance of double standards," the statement posted on Twitter added.

The MEK terrorist group has been responsible for numerous assassinations and bombings against Iranian officials since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. 

Its members fled Iran in 1986 for Iraq, where they enjoyed the patronage of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. 

A few years ago, MEK terrorists were relocated from their Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s Diyala Province to Camp Hurriyet (Camp Liberty), a former US military base in Baghdad, and later sent to Albania.

They enjoy the freedom of activity in the US and Europe and even hold meetings with American and European officials.

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