The US has removed the dissident Iranian group Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) from its terror blacklist, according to a statement by the US State Department.

The MEK led a guerrilla war against the US-backed Shah of Iran in the 1970s and also opposed Iran's clerical leaders who replaced the Shah. The organization had been designated a terror group by the US since 1997.

The statement said the decision was taken considering MEK's public abandonment of violence, the absence of any confirmed acts of terrorism by the organization for more than a decade and its co-operation in the closure of their paramilitary base in Iraq.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton formally removed the group after sending a classified opinion to Congress earlier in September.

The statement added "with today's actions, the department does not overlook or forget the MEK's past acts of terrorism, including its involvement in the killing of US citizens in Iran in the 1970s and an attack on US soil in 1992."















AKnews