Filner, along with several senior United States officials, argued that the People's Mujahedin of Iran, also known as the MEK, should have its designation as a terrorist group removed. Filner considered the MEK, a major member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an ally against the current Iranian regime. Filner accepted free trips, most recently in June 2013 to Paris, and paid engagements to speak in favor of delisting them as a terrorist organization. The U.S. Department of State lifted the MEK's designation as a terrorist organization as of September 28, 2012.