Iran's Opposition Groups are Preparing for the Regime's Collapse
In July 13, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudi Giuliani, addressed an Iranian opposition group called the Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK) at the group's tightly guarded encampment in rural Albania, where some 3,400 members have been preparing for the overthrow of the clerical regime in Tehran.
Calling the MEK Iran's "government-in-exile," Giuliani assured MEK members that the Trump administration regards the group as an acceptable replacement for the current regime. "It gives us confidence that if we make those efforts to overthrow that horrible regime, sooner rather than later, we will not only save lives but we will be able to entrust the transition of Iran to a very responsible group of people," the former New York City mayor told his cheering audience.
Like other former U.S. officials, Giuliani has been a frequent—and highly paid speaker—at MEK events over the past several years. So has John Bolton, Trump's hawkish national security adviser, who has earned $180,000 from his MEK speeches according to Joanne Stocker, an editor at The Defense Post and an expert on the MEK. Bolton stopped addressing the group last year when he took up his White House post, which precludes such appearances. But in his last speech to the MEK at a Paris rally in 2017, Bolton enthusiastically endorsed the group's claim to be the most attractive alternative to the Iranian regime. "There is a viable opposition to the rule of the ayatollahs and that opposition is centered in this room today," Bolton said. His financial disclosure showed he earned $40,000 for that speech.
The MEK, whose name means the "People's Holy Warriors," is the oldest, best organized and best known of several Iranian opposition movements waiting in the wings. But there are others. One group are the monarchists, led by the son of the deposed shah, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who hopes to coordinate the
