PARIS, March 30 (UPI) -- The head of a Paris-based Iranian opposition group called on leaders at the Arab summit in Qatar to issue a statement in support of dissidents living in Iraq.
Maryam Rajavi, the head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, issued a letter to Arab leaders calling for support of the People's Mujahedin of Iran, an opposition group residing in their Camp Ashraf enclave in Iraq's Diyala province.
The PMOI is considered a terrorist organization for its past violent opposition to the clerical regime in Iran. The NCRI, an umbrella group affiliated with the PMOI that calls itself the Iranian Parliament in exile, said it seeks democratic regime change in Iran.
Rajavi urged support from the Arab leaders, saying Tehran was looking to "annihilate" the PMOI at Camp Ashraf in order to curb the opposition movement and secure Iranian influence in neighboring Iraq.
Meanwhile, Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie said the PMOI should leave Iraq voluntarily but also opened the door to relocating the group to the deserts in western Anbar province, al-Sumaria reports.
"There is no final decision on their move, but their days in Iraq are numbered," he said.
