Court rejects review of Iran group

A federal appeals court in Washington Friday refused to review the State Department’s official designation of an Iranian resistance group as a “foreign terrorist organization.” The ruling came as the Bush administration reportedly has decided to seek the surrender of the group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, which has thousands of fighters, armored vehicles and artillery in Iraq along the Iranian border. The group enjoyed the protection of the Saddam Hussein regime until the Iraqi government fell to coalition forces last month. United Press International’s State Department correspondent, Eli Lake, reported Thursday that the United States has been engaged in secret negotiations with Iran for the return of al-Qaida operatives who fled northern Iraq just before the U.S. invasion. In return, the Iranians have asked the United States to turn over members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization, known as both MEK and PMOI. Other names for the organization, according to the State Department, are the National Council of Resistance and the Muslim Iranian Student’s Society. Full Story