Iran Receives Mojahedin-e Khalq's Computers Seized by Albania

Members of the People's Mojahedin Organization in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near the Albanian capital, Tirana, on June 20 (AFP)
Members of the People's Mojahedin Organization in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near the Albanian capital, Tirana, on June 20 (AFP)
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Iran Receives Mojahedin-e Khalq's Computers Seized by Albania

Members of the People's Mojahedin Organization in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near the Albanian capital, Tirana, on June 20 (AFP)
Members of the People's Mojahedin Organization in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near the Albanian capital, Tirana, on June 20 (AFP)

Albanian authorities handed over computer devices to Iran that were confiscated during a police raid of a camp inhabited by the opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (Mojahedin-e Khalq) about two weeks ago near Manze, Iranian presidency official said on Tuesday.

On June 20, Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) said one of its members had been killed during a raid by hundreds of Albanian police officers on the Ashraf-3 camp, which Tirana denied. It also reported that the Albanian police confiscated 200 computers.

Chief of the Government's Information Council Sepehr Khalaji announced on Twitter that Iran received part of the hard drives and computer cases seized from Mojahedin-e Khalq.

Khalaji said the Iranian specialists are "busy retrieving information, identifying operatives, and the destructive cores and blind spots," adding that the "results so far are promising."

MEK warned that collaboration with Iran would lead to the "arrest, torture, and execution of the families, prisoners, and supporters of the MEK."

It accused Western countries of appeasing the Iranian regime amid reports about accelerating Iranian and European talks to revive the nuclear agreement.

Albanian police said they carried out searches at Ashraf-3, which is home to members of the People's Mojahedin suspected of plotting cyberattacks against foreign institutions, according to local media.

Albanian media reported that these operations were carried out as part of investigations into cybercrimes, noting that the police confiscated computers and software. It also announced the indictment of six members of the organization.

Iranian General Prosecutor, Mohammad Jaafar Montazeri, vowed that the trial of 700 MEK members would start soon.

Relations between Tehran and Tirana have been strained in recent years after the Balkan country agreed to receive on its territory 2,800 MEK members, the most prominent Iranian opposition faction in exile, at the request of Washington and the UN in 2013.

The Organization created a base camp near Durres, the country's main port.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, warned France of the repercussions of "supporting and hosting terrorists" after the MEK held its annual conference in Paris.

The conference was held in the presence of former US Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and British ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss.

The "Iranian regime has never been weaker than it is today," said Pence, one of the potential Republican candidates for the presidential elections.

"I call upon the Biden administration, and leaders of all freedom-loving nations, to stand with the people of Iran, to stand up for the cause of freedom and justice and to cease and desist all nuclear negotiations with Tehran immediately," Pence said.

Thousands of MEK supporters staged a rally in the center of the French capital that the police had initially banned.

Kanaani "strongly condemned" the decision by the French government to host the meeting, reported AFP.

"Instead of compensating for the gross mistakes of the past in supporting the murderers of the Iranian people ... the French statesmen are providing an arena for the gathering of terrorists," Kanaani said, urging the French government "to heed the demands" of its people instead of "supporting terrorist groups."

The spokesman warned Paris of the political and legal repercussions of continuing to support and host terrorists and murderers of Iranian citizens and officials.

In 1979, the People's Mojahedin Organization supported the revolution led by Khomeini, which overthrew the Shah's regime before joining the opposition.

Tehran has banned the group since the early eighties, accusing it of being behind many attacks and bombings that have claimed the lives of thousands of Iranians.

The group also supported the Iraqi army during the war with Tehran between 1980 and 1988.



Russia Considering Downgrading Relations with the West, the Kremlin Says 

18 August 2018, Brandenburg, Meseberg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov arrives in front of the guesthouse of the Federal Government. (dpa)
18 August 2018, Brandenburg, Meseberg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov arrives in front of the guesthouse of the Federal Government. (dpa)
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Russia Considering Downgrading Relations with the West, the Kremlin Says 

18 August 2018, Brandenburg, Meseberg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov arrives in front of the guesthouse of the Federal Government. (dpa)
18 August 2018, Brandenburg, Meseberg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov arrives in front of the guesthouse of the Federal Government. (dpa)

Russia is considering a possible downgrading of relations with the West due to the deeper involvement of the United States and its allies in the Ukraine war, but no decision had yet been taken, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

A downgrading of relations - or even breaking them off - would illustrate the gravity of the confrontation between Russia and the West over Ukraine after an escalation in tensions over the war in recent months.

Even during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Cold War is thought to have come closest to nuclear war, Russia did not sever relations with the United States, though Moscow did break off ties with Israel over the 1967 Middle East war.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Izvestia newspaper that ambassadors fulfilled a difficult but important job that allowed a channel of communication to operate in troubled times.

But Ryabkov also said that a possible downgrading of ties with the West was being studied.

When asked about the possibility of such a move, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that given the West's current approach to Russia it was one of several options that was being considered, though no decision had yet been made.

"The issue of lowering the level of diplomatic relations is a standard practice for states that face unfriendly or hostile manifestations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"Due to the growing involvement of the West in the conflict over Ukraine, the Russian Federation cannot but consider various options for responding to such hostile Western intervention in the Ukrainian crisis."

President Vladimir Putin, who ordered thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022, presents the war as part of a wider struggle with the US, which he says ignored Moscow's interests after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and then plotted to split Russia apart and seize its natural resources.

The West and Ukraine have cast the war as an imperial-style land-grab. Western leaders, who deny they want to destroy Russia, say that if Putin wins the war, then autocracies across the world will be emboldened.

With Russia gaining the upper hand in the biggest land war in Europe since World War Two, the Ukraine crisis has escalated in recent months.

After the United States allowed Ukraine to strike Russia with some US weapons, the Kremlin sent signals that it viewed this as a serious escalation.

Putin has ordered drills to practice deployment of tactical nuclear weapons, suggested Russia could station conventional missiles within striking distance of the United States and its allies, and sealed a mutual defense pact with North Korea.

The United States and its European allies still have embassies in Russia, and Russia has embassies in Washington and European capitals, though diplomats from both sides say they are experiencing the most hostile conditions in decades.

"Moscow has given up on repairing relations with the West," said Geoffrey Roberts, a historian of Josef Stalin and Soviet international relations at University College Cork.

"It would signal that Putin thinks he can usher in a Brave New Multipolar World, whilst at the same time keeping the West at arm's length," he said. "But maybe it's just a gesture, a protest, a sign of frustration with the West and/or a sop to Russian hardliners who want to escalate the war in Ukraine."