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EmailUS drops Iranian opposition group from terror list
(AP) NEW YORK - The U.S. has removed from its terrorism list an Iranian militant group formerly allied with Saddam Hussein.
The State Department says the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq hasn’t committed terrorism for more than a decade. It credits the group for peacefully leaving its paramilitary base near Iraq’s Iranian border.
The decision is effective Friday. Any assets the MEK holds in the U.S. are no longer blocked. Americans may do business with it.
Officials told reporters about the decision last week, ahead of a court-ordered Oct. 1 deadline.
Delisting the MEK infuriates Iran. It accuses the group of continued terrorism.
The MEK helped Islamic clerics overthrow the shah before turning against the Iranian government. It fought in the 1980s alongside Saddam in the Iran-Iraq war but disarmed after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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