Tehran holds U.S. responsible for MKO assault on Iranian diplomat

TEHRAN,Sept.29(MNA) – Ali Reza Miryousefi, the head of the press office of Iran’s mission to the United Nations, has held the United States responsible for the assault against Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast in New York on Wednesday. Miryousefi blamed the assault on the Mojahedin Khalq Organization, saying that the MKO “is going to be delisted from (the list of) U.S. terrorist groups and you can expect such aggressive behavior of a terrorist sect. It would be another wrong step by the U.S. administration,” Reuters reported on Thursday. The U.S. said last week that the MKO would be removed from its list of foreign terrorist organizations. Miryousefi also said, “The responsibility of protecting all diplomats is on behalf of the government of the USA.” According to Reuters, New York police said on Wednesday that Mehmanparast was verbally abused, pushed, and shoved by protesters on the street as he walked a few blocks from the United Nations Headquarters, not long after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad finished his speech to the UN General Assembly. He became separated from members of his party travelling by car in a protected motorcade, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said. Mehmanparast, who was not hurt in the incident, himself blamed the move on the MKO on Wednesday. The Persian service of the Mehr News Agency also quoted him on Thursday as saying that the police did not get involved in the incident immediately.