WASHINGTON, Aug 16: The United States has seized assets and closed Washington offices of the Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin, and its political wing, the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

Late Friday, US Treasury agents closed the group’s offices at Washington’s National Press Club building and notified vendors in the United States and abroad that the People’s Mojahedin was considered a foreign terrorist organization by the US government.

The decision to target the group came after US Secretary of State Colin L. Powell determined that the People’s Mojahedin is the same as the Mojahedin-i-Khalq, which has been listed as a foreign terrorist organization since 1997. The People’s Mojahedin is an English translation of its Persian acronym Mojahedin-i-Khalq, Mr Powell declared.

The US representatives of the group have accused the Bush administration of giving in to demands of the Iranian government. In negotiations in May between US and Iranian officials, the Iranian side proposed a swap of the Mojahedin-i-Khalq fighters for the transfer of Al Qaeda operatives in Tehran’s custody.

The Treasury Department also took steps to freeze the organization’s bank accounts while Justice Department officials delivered a cease-and-desist order to individuals associated with the group.

Treasury Department spokesman Taylor Griffin told reporters that nearly $100,000 in financial assets belonging to the People’s Mojahedin was found in the United States and was frozen.

State Department acting spokesman Tom Casey, however, said that the decision to designate the group as a foreign terrorist organization had no connection with US policy toward Iran.

The group is also listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union. French police in July raided the European headquarters of the group outside Paris and arrested about 150 people. Many were quickly freed.