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But, who was Keshmiri? As Shahsavandi gives some details on his character:
Here is the story. Massoud Keshmiri was first a sympathizer who was
later recruited as a member. Instructed by the organization’s military-
security section he soon penetrated the Islamic Republic’s security
bodies and was fast promoted as the country’s Secretary of the National
Security Council. He played a key role in this post and would invite the
permanent members and counselors for security decision-makings. 2
Massoud Keshmiri
Talking of the early plans and preparations for blasting the Prime Minister’s
Office, Keshmiri in the same letter has stated:
Long later, my brave brother Mehdi Eftekhari came to my house. We
were much delighted to see him in so repressed atmosphere that
compelled us to live in isolation. I did not know what precious present he
had brought to offer. He said: ‘if the organization decides to carry out
the plan [meaning blasting the Prime Minister’s Office], what is your own
proposal?’ I had no better plan than suicide operation and immediately
proposed it. Although the organization never consented to such a plan, I
proposed it at the time. I was much exited. I had already thought of
launching such an operation and considered it a priority atop of my
responsibilities. 5
There are controversies about the fate of the two agents of the blasts in the
headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party and Prime Minister’s Office.
Despite escalated friction between the two and the leadership, as was the
cause for many others to detach from the organization, they came to doubt
accuracy of their bloody deeds. Giving some details on the fate of the two
agents, Mohammad-Reza Kolahi and Massoud Keshmiri, as well as Mehdi
Eftekhari, Sahsavandi has stated:
Some here and there say that Massoud Keshmiri along with Muhammad-
Reza Kolahi, who blasted the headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party,
is an outcast living incognito in isolation. I know that is true about
Muhammad-Reza Kolahi because we were in close contact as we were
colleagues in radio section for a while. But I am not certain about
Keshmiri. Once I saw him while living in Turkey for a short time and he
was also there living with his wife in a house just behind the Mosque of
the King Muhhamad Fatih. We would see each other as we were
neighbors but of course we hardly talked about the past as it was not
organizationally permitted. Nothing is clearly known about Massoud
Keshmiri before he blasted Prime Minister’s Office and information about
him are those recorded in different organs where he used to work. 6
Although definitions of terrorism vary widely and are usually inadequate, the
U.S. Department of State’ definition of terrorism suffices to prove MKO’s
shocking, and brutal violence against the targets exceed the basic norms of
a terrorist group. As defined by the State Department, terrorism is
"premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against
noncombatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually
intended to influence an audience". The extent of violence utilized by MKO,
as a result of the amount of the detonated explosives, in bombing the
headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party and Prime Minister’s Office in June
and August 1981calls the operation by MKO into question that was it really
necessary to use so much violence and whom were the audience the group
intended to influence.
Compared with other similar terrorist atrocities of the contemporary history,
MKO’s use of anarchism is blind and hysteric even if we consider the group
as idealistic terrorist fighters that struggled for a radical cause and political
ideology that advocates anarchism. Of course, not all details of the bombings
were disclosed to the public but the same very details reported heightened
the already upsurged public despise. Explaining the consequent of unneeded
fury of MKO, an ex-member active at the time of bombing recounts:
The blast in Prime Minister’s Office with the consequent death of the
President Rajai and his Prime Minister Bahonar was so devastating that
their corpses were unrecognizable. They had gathered some scattered
flesh but could hardly say to whome they belonged. The teeth helped to
identify them. Even Massoud Keshmiri, a member of the National
Security Council and the agent of bombing, who had escaped the scene
before the blast, was believed to be among the perished. Keshmiri
leaves the office immediately after he places the briefcase containing
the bomb next to Rajai and joins the group’s headquarters. The wreck
after the explosion and the consequent conflagration made it impossible
to identify the bodies. 7
I saw the corpses laid in the hall. Totally burned. Rajai and Bahonar
could be identified only by their teeth. Nothing further could help. There
was some flesh in a bag they said belonged to the meeting’s secretary,
Massoud Keshmiri. 8
The impact of MKO’s brutality on the public and the political climate was so
great that the group did not throw the caution into the wind to accept the
responsibility of the operation. However, the group indirectly and in spoken
statements of the leaders has accepted the responsibility. But there is one
instance in specific published by MKO putting the blame on them. In an
article published in Mojahed No. 219, three years after the incident, in
reaction to a memorial ceremony held in Iran’s Embassy in Paris, the group
refers to the ceremony as the anniversary of the Iranian masses’ retaliation
against the regime through the late President and Prime Minister whose
death is claimed to be the regime’s coup de grace.
In another instance, following Massoud Rajavi’s flight to Iraq and in the
meetings held between the two sides to exchange information, Rajavi tried
to exhibit as a potential military group with terrorist, espionage talents. In a
meeting with Gen. Habush, Rajavi explicitly admitted the responsibility for
the operations:
And he was telling the truth because the group’s Western supporters knew
well who had conducted the bloody operations. However, none of them took
any immediate position. As disclosed later in the US State Department’s
Report on the group in 1992, the responsibility of the two operations is
unquestionably directed at MKO:
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