In an interview with Tehran-based Al-Alam News Network, Kazem Gharibabadi said Iran is one of the few countries that has been and is the target of terrorist attacks.
He said after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, terrorist groups were created with the support of the West and the United States and assassinated more than 17,000 innocent people.
Stressing that the MKO terrorist group, like other terrorist groups, is mainly based in some western countries and enjoys their support, he added that the westerners use these groups as a tool to achieve their foreign policy goals.
MKO not only lacks people's support within the country but is also widely despised, he said adding that it is natural for them to be held accountable for their actions.
We are fundamentally opposed to terrorism and will use different capacities such as legal and judicial and political potentials in order not to allow these groups to pose a problem to the country's security and peace with their actions, he said.
According to Gharibabadi, the trail of the MKO members crimes should be held publicly because it is necessary for both domestic and international public opinion to know about the terrorist crimes committed by MKO and become familiar with the savage and terrorist nature of the group.
We welcome the recent position adopted by the Albanian government regarding the MKO, he said, adding that some other European countries have also come to believe that the group is in terrorist nature and is a threat to the security and tranquility of European society.
Prisoner Swap with US Unrelated to Release of Iran’s Asset
Elsewhere in his remarks, Kazem Gharibabadi dismissed the notion that Iran has agreed to release the American prisoners in order to have access to its assets.
The issue of Iran’s financial resources that have been held hostage abroad has nothing to do with the prisoner swap deal, he underlined.
Gharibabadi noted that the Islamic Republic entered negotiations about the exchange of prisoners with the US only because it supports its nationals and people who have been jailed in the US on bogus charges.
A number of Iranian citizens have been imprisoned in the US illegitimately and on spurious charges like bypassing the cruel sanctions imposed by the US, he explained.
Last month, the Foreign Ministry of Iran confirmed the ongoing process of releasing $6 billion worth of Iran’s funds, which had been unlawfully held in South Korea due to US sanctions.
The ministry emphasized that releasing the funds had consistently been on its agenda, noting that these funds had been "illegally blocked" under the pretext of "overseas banks' concerns about America's oppressive sanctions."
Hamid Nouri’s case
Gharibabadi also said Swedish authorities do not have any compelling and persuasive evidence to keep Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian judiciary official, behind bars, terming the trial and subsequent detention of the 62-year-old Iranian citizen as “politically-motivated.”
“The Islamic Republic believes Mr. Nouri was innocently arrested in Sweden as he did not commit any crime. The proceedings took more than a year and a half from the time when Swedish government officials arrested Mr. Nouri, until a verdict was passed against him. It all took so long because of the fact that Stockholm did not have any evidence to incarcerate Mr. Nouri. Should it have convincing evidence, the ruling would have been issued much sooner.”
The secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights also said the Islamic Republic considers Nouri's detention as a measure in support of terrorism, as MKO terrorists are behind the scenario.
The complaint against Nouri was lodged by two high-profile members of the terrorist group, who submitted it to the Stockholm prosecutor, and he ordered the arrest of the former Iranian judiciary official as a result, Gharibabadi said.
Indictment for General Soleimani’s assassins
Gharibabadi also underlined that the legal complaint against terrorists who assassinated Iran's top anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and his companions is complete, and was presented to a special branch of Tehran Judiciary Court a few months ago.
Gharibabadi referred to the request for indictment of the suspects involved in the assassination and martyrdom of General Qassem Soleimani and added that the court sessions for that case are expected to begin within the next two to three months.
He said the hearings will start within the next two months, and the first part of the trials will focus on American defendants, most notably former President Donald Trump, former State of Secretary Mike Pompeo, and former commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) General Kenneth McKenzie.