The MEK is the primary opposition to the current Iranian government and acts as the focal point of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a coalition of Iranian opposition groups which claims to be the transitional parliament-in-exile with 570 members. The NCRI was headquartered in Iraq, with representative offices in other countries including a presence in Washington where it has previously received support from the US Congress.  After the 9/11 attacks however, the US government actively courted cooperation from the government of Iran and further sidelined any unofficial support for the MEK.  Worsening their reputation further, intelligence reports suggested that the MEK's military camps in Iraq might be hiding some of Iraq's weapons programs.  The group surrendered to US forces following the US invasion of Iraq.  In May 2003, US Central Command stated that the group was "complying fully with Coalition instructions and directives".<br />The MEK began as a liberal nationalistic party supporting former Prime Minister Mossaddeq against the Shah.  When a 1963 uprising against the Shah failed, more radical members split off to form the MEK.  In 1971 the new group began its armed struggle against the Shah, whom it saw as a dictator and a puppet of the United States.  <P> The group conducted a number of attacks on US military personnel and civilians in Iran in the 1970s.  Although the group initially supported the 1979 revolution and the overthrow of the Shah, the group's secular perspective led to an eventual crackdown by the Khomeni regime following MEK's call for a mass demonstration after the 1981 impeachment of Abolhasan Bani-Sadr, the elected President and chairman of the Islamic Revolutionary Council.  Thousands of MEK members were killed and imprisoned during the repression. The MEK's leaders fled to Paris and their military infrastructure moved to Iraq. The headquarters were relocated to Iraq in 1987, the MEK's military wing, the NLA was formed and began using Iraq as a base for cross-border raids into Iran. In 1991, it assisted Saddam Hussein in suppressing the Shia and Kurdish uprisings, and continued to perform internal security services for the Government thereafter.  In April 1992, the MEK conducted near-simultaneous attacks on Iranian Embassies and installations in 13 countries.   More recently, the MEK assassinated the deputy chief of the Armed Forces General Staff of Iran in April 1999, and was involved regularly in mortar attacks and hit-and-run raids on Iranian military and law-enforcement units and government buildings near the Iran-Iraq border throughout 2000 and 2001.<br />