Leader: Iranian dissidents ready to move

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PARIS, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- The leader of an Iranian dissident group called on 400 residents of an enclave in Iraq's Diyala province to move to facilities in Baghdad.

Maryam Rajavi, who describes herself as the leader of the Iranian Resistance, said 400 members of the People's Mujahedin of Iran were called on to relocate from the Camp Ashraf enclave to the former U.S. military base in Baghdad known as Camp Liberty.

"This is despite the fact that there was no agreement on the transfer of all their vehicles and personal movable property to (Camp) Liberty," the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an umbrella group, said in a statement.

The United Nations and Iraqi leaders signed a memorandum of understanding to relocate Ashraf residents and eventually resettle them in third countries. There are an estimated 4,000 people at Camp Ashraf and Rajavi said more would move after she gets security assurances.

Members of the PMOI were used as a paramilitary force by Saddam Hussein but surrendered to invading U.S. forces in 2003. In a report early this week, NBC News, citing anonymous U.S. officials, said Israel was using the PMOI to carry out attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists, an allegation initially stated by the Iranians.

Rajavi, according to the NCRI, seeks to "oversee the peaceful transfer of power to the Iranian people following the regime's overthrow."