Iran asks EU not to support "terrorist" groups: spokesman

13 April 2011 | 15:48 Code : 11841 Latest Headlines

Xinhua-- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast asked the European Union (EU) on Tuesday not to back terrorist groups referring to Iranian dissident Paris-based People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI).

Mehmanparast said that Iran expects EU and those countries which advocate human rights to stop providing supports for "terrorists".

Mehmanparast's remarks came following the EU support for the residents of the camp of the exiled Iranian opposition group in Iraq which was raided on Friday by Iraqi army force.

Iraq said on Tuesday that the camp of PMOI will be closed and the Iranian dissidents must leave Iraq by the end of the year.

The PMOI, formed in 1965, is a militant Islamic-Marxist organization and advocates the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It has a base in Camp Ashraf located in northeast of the Iraqi town of Khalis, about 120 kilometers west of the Iranian border and 60 kilometers north of Baghdad. The camp houses more than 3,500 exiled Iranians.

The United States has blacklisted the PMOI as the terrorist group.