Iranian opposition: Teheran targeting France to keep it on EU terror list
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Iran's government is seeking French support to keep a prominent exiled opposition group on the European Union's list of terrorist organizations, the group claimed Wednesday.
The People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran says Teheran is focusing its pressure on France after a British court ruling last month that invalidated British evidence forming the basis for the EU's 2002 decision to blacklist the group.
Iran has denounced the British court decision. EU diplomats fear taking the group off the list would provoke a furious reaction from Teheran and derail talks on Iran's nuclear program, which the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana is hoping to relaunch with a visit to the Iranian capital this weekend.
If the court ruling forces the British government to withdraw its original complaint, the EU will have to remove the People's Mujahedeen from the list, unless another European government makes a fresh demand for its inclusion, said Jean-Pierre Spitzer, the group's French lawyer.