Terrorist Organization Profile:
Fedayeen Khalq (People's Commandos)

In the year following the revolution, the Fedayeen Khalq, now a banned organization, quickly emerged to become the most potent threat to the Ayatollah's campaign to consolidate power, at one point administering a training camp and guerrilla base in Tehran University. During this period, like most other Iranian anti-Ayatollah opposition movements, Fedayeen Khalq's attacks were small scale, insurgent-style attacks in urban settings. Eventually, the Ayatollah's concerted efforts to root out Fedayeen Khalq succeeded, and much of the leadership and general membership of the organization escaped to Europe, where many of them were given political asylum.

With most of its members now in exile and hope for the armed insurgency in Iran dim and fading fast, Fedayeen Khalq developed a new strategy that placed more weight on political opposition and activism. From 1981 until 1988, Fedayeen concentrated on storming high profile Iranian soft targets (such as Iranian diplomatic facilities and Iran Air offices) in European cities including Paris, Stockholm, London, Brussels, Vienna, Oslo, Frankfurt, and Geneva. In these operations, which usually resulted in no casualties, Fedayeen members would leave anti-Ayatollah literature at the scene of the crime or take hostages for a short period of time to attract media attention to their cause.

It is unknown why Fedayeen Khalq became inactive between 1988 and 1996, when it reemerged for one more attack after the Iranian government executed many Fedayeen activists in Iran and captured a key Fedayeen Central Committee member in Baku. In this sophisticated scheme, Fedayeen Khalq alleges that it stole $15 million worth of funds being transferred between French and Iranian officials working on an arms deal. This embarrassing revelation exposed the extent of the French government's involvement in supplying Iran's military, though it had little to no effect in advancing Fedayeen's cause.

Learn more about these U.S. Department of State classifications:

Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs)

Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL)