By Xinhua,
TEHRAN : Iran said Wednesday that it has summoned ambassadors of European Union (EU) countries to protest an EU decision to remove an Iranian rebel group from terror blacklist, the official IRNA news agency reported.
While meeting the EU ambassadors, Mehdi Safari, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister in charge of Europe, described the EU political decision as a “deep regret” and warned about its consequences, according to IRNA.
“Iran strongly condemns the EU’s double standards with the phenomenon of terrorism,” IRNA quoted Safari as saying.
In January, EU member states decided to remove Iran’s dissident group of People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran (PMOI), or Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO), from the EU list of terrorist groups and lift the restrictions on its funds.
On Jan. 26 immediately after the EU decision, the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement and condemned that “the EU’s move comes despite the fact that the organization has not altered its ideology.”
The decision taken by the EU lacked “credibility” and would likely cause a rift between Tehran and the bloc, warned the statement.
The PMOI had been blacklisted as a terror organization by the EU since 2002. It advocates the overthrow of Iran’s current government and is still blacklisted by the United States as a terror group.