Word: mujahedins
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Nobody doubts that the Mujahedin possess the stealth, cunning and means to carry out such a lethal operation. They once put under the brass cover of a rice dish a bomb that killed one of the Shah's judges as he pondered the fate of some guerrillas. They have other skills as well...
Opposition to the theocracy desired by the Muslim fundamentalists is currently being led by the Mujahedin-e Khalq (People's Crusaders), a clandestine Islamic socialist party that commands some 100,000 armed urban guerrillas. Supporters of Banisadr, the Mujahedin reacted to the President's ouster by engaging Khomeini's armed zealots, the Hezbollahis (Members of God's Party), in bloody street fighting in Tehran and other cities, killing 25 and wounding several hundred...
...leftist takeover is the most worrisome prospect to Washington policymakers. The Mujahedin (Islamic socialist) and Fedayan (Marxist) movements maintain guerrilla forces armed with weapons seized from the Shah's garrisons during the revolution. Both groups disclaim any ties with the U.S.S.R., and some Iranian exiles believe a dialogue between them and moderate forces would be possible. However, they are very antiWestern. A third contender is the Tudeh (Communist) Party, which has a reputation for loyally following Moscow's line. It is currently voicing all-out support of Khomeini because, its leaders disingenuously explain, any foe of America's imperialism...
...Mujahedin is the more moderate of the two parties. It practices the same religion as Khomeini, but it differs in wanting to establish a classless society, or "pure Shi'ism." The party boycotted the referendum on the theocratic constitution, and it refused to surrender the arsenal it had built up during its long struggle against the Shah. Persecuted by Khomeini forces, the Mujahedin nevertheless feel they are spiritually akin. Says a party leader: "The struggle is between two kinds of Islam, two kinds of Shi'ism, not them...
Unlike the Fedayan and Mujahedin, the Communist Tudeh Party operates openly in Iran despite its firm ties to the Soviet Union. It has cheerfully supported the establishment of a rigid Islamic state in Iran. Says Tudeh Leader Noureddin Kianuri: "Our party's objectives are identical with those of Khomeini: the eradication of all forms of imperialism, particularly from America...