Iran group to be removed from terror list

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration will remove from the U.S. terrorism list an Iranian militant group formerly allied with Saddam Hussein, officials said Friday, describing a move that will infuriate Tehran and end years of high-profile campaigning by the group.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was to notify Congress of her intent later Friday, the officials said. A court order had given her until Oct. 1 to make a decision about the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK.

Clinton's decision comes days after the last big batch of the Iranian exiles reluctantly left their decades-old paramilitary base in northeastern Iraq, relocating for now to a refugee camp outside Baghdad.

The United States had insisted that the MEK's 3,000 members comply with an Iraqi demand to leave Camp Ashraf as a condition of the MEK's removal from the list of foreign terrorist organizations. The decision to remove the MEK list rested on two factors: whether it still had the capacity and intent to commit acts of terror. Several American military officials and defense contractors were killed by the MEK in the 1970s, U.S. officials maintain, and its attacks have killed hundreds of Iranians. But the group contended it swore off violence more than a decade ago and now seeks only a peaceful overthrow of Iran's theocratic government.

U.S. officials said Clinton's letter to Congress would not amount to a final designation. That will probably come in a couple of weeks.