LONDON: A fire at the London office of an Iranian opposition group is proof that the Iranian regime is "terrified" of its opponents inside and outside the country, according to a spokesman for the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran.
According to police, the fire broke out in the early hours of Monday next to the PMOI office in Cricklewood, north west London.
According to the London Fire Brigade, the ground floor bin room was completely destroyed when firefighters arrived on the scene at 2:15 p.m. According to the service, no injuries were reported.
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However, he added that "the incident was being investigated with the help of the Met's Counter-Terrorism Command due to the location of the incident and the organization located in the surrounding premises." Detective Superintendent Tony Bayliss of the Metropolitan Police ruled out the fire being a targeted attack or terror-related motives.
The PMOI is a member of the National Resistance Council of Iran, which issued a statement accusing the Iranian government of being behind the attack.
According to Hossein Abedini, deputy director of the Parliament in Exile of NCRI's UK office, state terrorism is involved in a clerical regime.
"The fundamentalist regime has resorted to more terrorism and threats against the Iranian opposition to compensate for its dire position and to bolster the morale of its demoralizing forces," he continued. "The nationwide uprising of the Iranian people to overthrow the mullahs has continued for 80 days despite brutal repression."
The Iranian government, "from Ali Khamenei down, top to bottom," wants to "intimidate and silence" the members of the PMOI who are responsible for the ongoing protests that are rocking the country because they know that the PMOI is within the country. It is the most organized and effective opposition force. It runs highly successful campaigns in Iran and abroad.
According to the speaker, of course they are scared because Khamenei has no answer to the unrest in Iran. "They are using live ammunition, there have been 700 deaths, 30,000 arrests, and just in the last five days, 13 people, including a woman, have been hacked to death."
The new generation of Iranian protesters involved in this year's unrest, he continued, are "fearless" and "will not go back home until the regime is over", which the regime also fears.
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The fire comes shortly after the head of Britain's domestic intelligence agency MI5 recently claimed that the security services had foiled more than a dozen Iranian plans to attack individuals based in the UK, which were " Enemy of the State".
The (Iranian) regime is now exporting its terrorism and repression outside Iranian borders, as it has failed to quell the nationwide protests, according to Jazeri, who also noted that the police had fired him for his personal safety. Warned about the dangers.
According to NCRI's Abedini, the time has come to pressure governments and officials to close Iranian embassies.
"A definite response is needed at this time. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps needs to be outlawed completely as a terrorist organization, and the clerical regime's embassies, which serve as hotbeds of terrorism and espionage, needs to be stopped immediately," he continued. ,
Jazeri told Arab News that the PMOI in Britain was pushing for the closure of Tehran's embassy in London, repeating Abedini's claim.
In an effort to convince the authorities that the Iranian embassy is merely an espionage hub where terrorist recruiters and money-launderers operate, we are pressing for its closure. It should be closed, he said.
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Iran International, a Farsi-language television station based in London, has been protected by more police after receiving threats for reporting on protests sparked by the custodial death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, which Tehran blames.