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Iran
Islamic Groups
In 1987 the principal Islamic party in opposition to the government
of Iran was the Mojahedin, which had been founded in 1965 by a
group of religiously inspired young Shias. All were college graduates
who believed that armed struggle was the only way to overthrow
the shah. In the early 1970s, the Mojahedin engaged in armed confrontations
with the military and carried out acts of terrorism, including
the assassination of an American military adviser. The Mojahedin
was crushed for the most part by 1975, but it reemerged in early
1979 and revitalized itself. Its interpretations of Islam, however,
soon brought the organization into conflict with the IRP. During
the summer of 1981, the Mojahedin unsuccessfully attempted an
armed uprising against the government. More than 7,500 Mojahedin
followers were killed during the conflict, and within one year
the organization had once again been crushed (see The Domination
of the Islamic Republican Party , this ch.).
Rajavi, the leader of the Mojahedin, managed to escape from Iran
with Bani Sadr in July 1981. In France he reorganized the Mojahedin
and tried to broaden its appeal by inviting all nonmonarchist
parties to join the National Council of Resistance, which he and
Bani Sadr established to coordinate opposition activities. Although
most of the political parties refrained from cooperating with
the Mojahedin, it nevertheless was most successful in recruiting
new members and establishing a loyal following in United States
and West European cities with sizable Iranian communities. From
the perspective of the other political parties, one of the Mojahedin's
most controversial positions was its public endorsement of direct
contacts with Iraq, beginning in 1983. This was a contentious
issue even within the National Council of Resistance and eventually
led to Bani Sadr's break with Rajavi in 1984.
The Mojahedin maintained clandestine contact with sympathizers
in Iran, and these underground cells regularly carried out isolated
terrorist acts. For this reason, Tehran was more concerned about
the Mojahedin than any other opposition group based abroad. The
freedom of operation that the Mojahedin enjoyed in France became
one of the issues that led to increasingly strained relations
between the Iranian and French governments after 1982. When Paris
actively sought to improve relations in late 1985, Prime Minister
Musavi set restrictions on the Mojahedin as one of the conditions
for normalizing relations. In June 1986, France pressured the
Mojahedin to curtail its activities. This move prompted Rajavi
to accept an invitation from President Saddam Husayn of Iraq for
the Mojahedin to establish its headquarters in Baghdad. Following
the move to Iraq, the Mojahedin set up military training camps
near the war front and periodically claimed that its forces had
crossed into Iran and successfully fought battles against the
Pasdaran. In June 1987, Rajavi announced the formation of the
newly reorganized and expanded National Army of Liberation, open
to non-Mojahedin members, to help overthrow the government of
Iran.
Data as of December 1987
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