This is a fighter from the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or People's Mujehadeen of Iran. They profess some form of Marxism, and they recruit female fighters to drive tanks, fire artillery and conduct rifle drills. They're steadfastly opposed to the Iranian regime.

On the down side, they're a cult based on husband-&-wife leaders Maryam & Massoud Rajavi. In return for teaching members military skills & self-esteem, their members renounce marriage & friends.

Their intellectual roots lie in Maoism, or anti-revisionism (rejecting Kruschev's denunciation of Stalin in 1956), and this guy:



Ali Shariati was a liberal Muslim intellectual who opposed the Iranian regime. For his troubles, the regime assassinated him in 1977.

I'm not clear about how they melded these two ideological elements into an army Though the Maoist cult of personality isn't uncommon, they're no longer Maoists. This is the Khalq's website, if anyone can read Farsi and wants to explain it to me.

More seriously, the Khalq made fast friends with Saddam Hussein and gave logistical support to his war against Iran, as well as helping him subdue his own rebellions. This hasn't made them many friends, at home or in Iraq.

Read more about them here. But wait - it gets weirder. The American and British government have classed the Mujahedin-e Khalqas as terrorists. Yet they have offices in Washington and the support of prominent American & British politicians. Among them, Richard Perle, one of the foremost neo-conservatives in the U.S., who attended their fundraiser.

The neo-con logic is depressingly familiar. The U.S. has a long history of finding whatever allies it can, regardless of the consequences. They created the Taliban to use against the Soviets in Afghanistan. They supported Saddam Hussein against Iran. Now they need a new ally against Iran - and some of the neo-cons are pushing for the PMI.

The Mujahedin-e Khalqas are armed, they have battle experience and they hate the Iranian regime. They're also ethnic chauvinists, and even obstensibly Marxist. It shows how little the U.S. cares about ideology: after winning the Cold War and launching another war in the name of freedom, the neo-cons are still willing to ally with any force, no matter how odious or against their professed principles, to achieve their goals.