Clinton Urges Iranian Group to Complete Move

By SCOTT SHANE
NYT

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Wednesday that a decision on whether to remove an Iranian opposition group from the list of terrorist organizations would depend in part on whether more than 3,000 of its members cooperate in moving to a new location inside Iraq.

The group, the Mujahedeen Khalq, or People’s Mujahedeen, is under pressure from the Iraqi government to move from Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad, where it was given territory by Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi leader. Under an agreement negotiated by the United Nations, it has begun a move to a former American base near the Baghdad airport. United Nations officials have said they hope to find permanent homes for the exiles outside Iraq, where government forces have had several bloody clashes with the group, also known as the M.E.K.

In a statement from Paris on Thursday, Maryam Rajavi, the group’s leader in exile, reacted cautiously to Mrs. Clinton’s remarks. Ms. Rajavi said that while she thought that making the terrorist designation contingent on relocation was “unwarranted in principle and in law,” the two could proceed simultaneously.

But in a sign of the recalcitrance that has disturbed American officials, Mrs. Rajavi called conditions at the new location “atrocious” and compared it to a concentration camp. The statement also noted political support for dropping the terrorist designation in the United States, noting that 98 House members co-sponsored a resolution urging Mrs. Clinton to remove the label.

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