A fortified camp in Manza, a small village in central Albania near the capital Tirana, is home to around 3,000 members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, also known as Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, MEK).
These members have been in the country since 2013, when the Albanian government agreed to accept them, at the request of the US and the United Nations.
What is MEK?
The MEK is an islamic political opposition organization with socialist tendencies.
It was founded in Iran in 1965 and turned its armed wing against the ruling Pahlavi dynasty, carrying out bombing attacks against the Shah's government and American targets in the 1970s, while also supporting Ayatollah Khomeini during the Islamic Revolution of 1978/1979.
Shortly after the revolution, however, the MEK fell out with the new rulers in Tehran and was outlawed in the country. It then went into exile, continuing its opposition activities from abroad.
Later, the MEK was transferred to Iraq, from where it conducted military operations against Iran during the Iran-Iraq War — a fact that many in Iran still hold against it to this day.
The US State department Designated the mEK A terrorist organization in 1997, but removed it from its list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2012.
The organization was the first to publicly reveal, in 2002, that Iran had a secret uranium enrichment program. After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, it was expelled from Iraq.
The recent protests in Iran
For Andreas Krieg, a Middle East expert and senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King's College London, the current wave of protests in Iran "looks less like a single 'event' and more like a rolling convergence of long-standing grievances that have finally come together."
“It started with an acute economic shock — currency collapse and inflation that translated into immediate price increases, shortages and trade paralysis — and then quickly became politicized, once citizens concluded that the state was either unable or unwilling to stabilize daily life,” he told the DW.
“What is remarkable is the profile of the coalition: flea market traders and shopkeepers helped spark the momentum, students and urban neighborhoods maintained visibility, while regional cities and minority areas added breadth,” Krieg said.
A photo taken by the MEK shows flames rising from a burning barricade in the middle of the road, during ongoing anti-government protests in Iran.
“The state response quickly shifted from deterrence to repression, including a nationwide communications blackout aimed at slowing coordination and reducing external control — something that usually coincides with harsher use of force on the ground,” he added.
A fragmented opposition
Despite the fact that Iran has seen many nationwide protests in recent decades, the Iranian opposition — both inside and outside the country — is unorganized and characterized by a large number of rival groups and ideological currents.
“Where the opposition ‘stands’ is better understood as fragmentation rather than absence,” Krieg said, adding that “within Iran, collective action remains largely leaderless and network-based: local mobilization, social ties, workplace dynamics, and university ecosystems produce outbreaks of coordinated protest without a unified national command structure.”
The Iranian opposition abroad
Outside Iran, the two largest opposition groups are the monarchists and the MEK. Leaders and members of both have lived in exile since the overthrow of the pahlavi Dynasty in 1979.
Reza Pahlavi, successor to the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, is based in the United States. Although he has many supporters in the Iranian diaspora, it remains unclear what support he has within the country.
“Outside Iran, the diaspora remains influential in shaping narratives and morale, but it is organizationally fragmented and often viewed with suspicion by people inside the country, who fear both manipulation and a power vacuum following a potential collapse,” said Andreas Krieg.
Supporters of Reza Pahlavi, successor to the last Shah of Iran, are gathering outside the US Embassy in London, calling on President Trump to keep his promise to support Iranians in Iran.
“This matters for regime security because it reduces the likelihood of quick, clean breaks in the elites, even as it increases the likelihood of repeated cycles of protest. Suppressing one wave does not resolve the deeper factors that continue to feed the street,” he added.
What role has the MEK played in the protests?
The second major Iranian opposition group is the MEK, the largest member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a coalition of Iranian opposition organizations.
But what was the mEK's role In the recent unrest?
Ali Safavi of the NCRI states that the MEK has been actively involved in the protests.
"Its resistance units are leading, coordinating and organizing the resistance against the repressive forces," he told DW. "In many cases, they also play a significant role in protecting protesters from the islamic Revolutionary guard Corps (IRGC) Onslaught. If it weren't for their role, the regime would have suppressed the uprising very quickly."
Safavi told DW that "a significant number of MEK activists are among the 3,000 killed by security forces."
MEK – legalization problems for many Iranians
For middle east expert Krieg, However, "when it Comes to the MEK, it is important to separate perceived reach from actual impact on the ground."
«Η οργάνωση είναι πειθαρχημένη, επικοινωνιακά ικανή και σε θέση να παράγει θόρυβο, πίεση μέσω λόμπινγκ και μεγάλο όγκο μηνυμάτων από το εξωτερικό. Ωστόσο, αντιμετωπίζει σοβαρά προβλήματα νομιμοποίησης για πολλούς Ιρανούς, λόγω της ιστορίας της, των καταγγελιών για εσωτερικό έλεγχο και της μακρόχρονης εξόριστης παρουσίας της — παράγοντες που περιορίζουν την ικανότητά της να λειτουργήσει ως ενοποιητικός φορέας της αντιπολίτευσης στο εσωτερικό της χώρας. Γι’ αυτό και οι ισχυρισμοί ότι λειτουργεί ως ξένος “Δούρειος Ίππος” βρίσκουν απήχηση».
A photo taken by the MEK shows a crowd of protesters gathered at night, while a fire burns in the middle of the street.
"The MEK is easy to manipulate in the information space by many actors, including hardline opponents of Iran in The uS and Israel. But the practical effect is usually communicative. It gives the regime a convenient narrative of a Foreign finger. but it has absolutely no ability to lead these protests," krieg Said.
Considered a terrorist organization by Tehran, the MEK is now calling On europe to take tough action against the iranian Government.
«Η Ευρώπη πρέπει άμεσα να χαρακτηρίσει τους Φρουρούς της Ισλαμικής Επανάστασης (IRGC) τρομοκρατική οντότητα, να απελάσει τους διπλωμάτες του καθεστώτος, να ανακαλέσει τους πρέσβεις της από την Τεχεράνη, να αποκόψει το καθεστώς από το διεθνές χρηματοπιστωτικό σύστημα, να μποϊκοτάρει την πώληση πετρελαίου και να οδηγήσει τους ηγέτες του ενώπιον διεθνών δικαστηρίων για εγκλήματα κατά της ανθρωπότητας. Και αυτό περιλαμβάνει τον Ανώτατο Ηγέτη Αλί Χαμενεΐ και άλλα ανώτερα στελέχη», δήλωσε ο Αλί Σαφαβί.
The perspective from Albania
Albanian media have been systematically covering both the protests and the MEK in Albania since the protests began in Iran.
For their part, MEK members in Albania are particularly active on social media, sharing posts and photos regarding protesters who lost their lives, as well as MEK members who, they claim, were killed during the protests.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who broke off diplomatic relations with Iran in September 2022, claiming that cyberattacks against Albania were organized by the Islamic Republic, has not made any comment on the protests in Iran.
