Iran Media Focus

Aware of the insurmountable volume of media traffic on the Iranian crisis, we strive to keep abreast and present our readers with regular updates on major developments and aberrations in media reportage and analysis

Archive for the category “Domestic”

21 May 2013

Spinning vs. Substance in the Nuclear Crisis

Happens like clockwork: Iran’s media, parliament and proxies ratchet up their efforts to discredit the IAEA just before the quarterly Board of Governors meeting– this time set for early June. As far as we can tell, the heat’s usually turned up 10 days or so before the meeting– apparently to pre-empt publication of Amano’s report, disseminated to member states (and usually leaked) beforehand.

So while the DG continues to stress Agency suspicions that Tehran has engaged in nuclear weapons tests, the latter belittles his credibility. Iran’s attitude toward the IAEA has apparently become so venomous that even a totally reasonable comment about the importance of safety at Bushehr- there has been a recent  earthquake in the vicinity, you know -  invites a round of attacks.

This time, Iran’s saber-rattling against the IAEA comes on the heels of two more attempts to coax and cajole that country into cooperating:  more talks between representatives of the IAEA and EU and Iranian officials in Vienna and Istanbul, respectively.  No progress on both counts, of course.

Most of the journalists following these stories emphasized Iran’s obvious stonewalling. By the same token, however, all too many accentuated the Iranian spin on developments. We found this tendency in most of the wire services: Reuters, AFP, and AP (in the Washington Post).

Incidentally:  as far as we could discern, Xinhuanet was one of the few news agencies to emphasize the Agency’s view of events in its headline.

Which brings us back to the IAEA: with another report and Board meeting around the corner, it would be refreshing if the mainstream media would maintain neutrality, distance itself from events, and just cover them – instead of becoming part of them.

Posted in Domestic, Foreign Policy, Media Coverage, Other News and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment
13 May 2013
1 Comment

Press TV’s Glamour Girl

Believe it or not, Press TV has hired former “adult entertainment” model and party girl, Edwina Storie, as its Australia correspondent. The Iranians must be getting really desperate to spread their message.

Storie’s storied history includes descriptions on social media accounts of enthusiastic alcohol consumption and modeling sites with racy images. It goes without saying – but we’ll say it anyway – that all this would be sufficient for her to be stoned to death in the country of her new employers.

The former glamour gal is certainly busying herself on behalf of the Iranian theocracy, including a story calling for the prosecution of former Aussie Prime Minister John Howard and leading military officials as “war criminals.”

Of course, hypocrisy is nothing new to Press TV, which regularly blasts European officials for suppressing “free speech” – more recently, after the French company GlobeCast stopped the broadcast of Iran’s Spanish-language Hispan TV in Latin America. The Iranian media outlet had praised GlobeCast as resisting the avalanche of transmission blocks by international satellite companies. Turns out Press TV was wrong.

For those who’ve forgotten, the various broadcasts have been stopped particularly against the background of decisions by the EU and the US  to sanction the “Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting” (IRIB), which is the state-controlled media corporation that owns Press TV – whose senior officials themselves were later sanctioned by the EU.

Maybe Ms. Storie needs to better understand her stories – and her employers.

Posted in Domestic and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
01 Mar 2013
2 Comments

Kazakhstan talks… a yawn?

Not too many pundits are biting when it comes to the just-completed P5+1 talks in Almaty. Perhaps the headlines aroused a sense of deja vu - as in “positive”, “constructive”, “useful”. The suspicious Iranian enthusiasm overdose may also have made them wary.

Iran’s chief negotiator caused The Washington Post editorial board to come out punching:

“Unfortunately, an equally plausible explanation for Mr. Jalili’s comment was that he was celebrating the fact that, in the eight months since Iran last agreed to meet with the international coalition, the offer to Tehran had grown more, rather than less, generous.” 

The Post’s reporting wing, for some reason adopted the Iranian spin and led with this positive headline: ‘Iran nuclear talks end on upbeat note‘, pointing out:

Under the proposal, Iran would freeze production of a more highly enriched form of uranium that can be quickly converted for use in a weapons program. It would also have to agree to more intrusive inspections of its nuclear facilities and to halt uranium enrichment at Fordow, a plant built inside a mountain near the city of Qom.”

This is something Iran still refuses to do — a fact warranting mention.

Meanwhile, Al Monitor , a generally optimistic publication when it comes to these talk sessions, tries to put on a brave face:

“Negotiators from Iran and six world powers announced they would hold two more meetings over the next month to discuss a new international proposal aimed at curbing Iran’s 20% enrichment and nuclear breakout capacity, in exchange for some sanctions relief.”

Ok, fine – but don’t forget, as did Al Monitor, that in the same week we also read about plutonium production facilities and further construction in the closed military base of Parchin.

Al Monitor’s oversight was nothing when compared with the Telegraph’s op-ed by former FM of UK Jack Straw - the same Jack Straw who’s flip-flopped on the issue of force since he had the golden opportunity to stop Iran’s nuclear program in its infancy, way back in 2003. It’s time he read my posts on the potential of a new nuclear arms race - maybe then he’ll finally  understand that he dropped the historical ball and owes the international community a serious apology…

Anyway, while most of the Almaty headlines spread season’s greetings and good cheer, the battleship of pressure continues to sail ahead. For instance, as in a new congressional legislative proposal to expand sanctions.

That Kazakhstan media yawn is sheer bliss.

Posted in Domestic, Other News, Sanctions and tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
20 Feb 2013
1 Comment

Mixed news from Germany

Believing that the ups-and-downs in Germany’s attitude towards Iran warrant sustained monitoring, we continue to spill ink on the subject – here, again. Berlin is just too important to the crisis with Tehran for the usual hit-and-run coverage.

So let’s start with some good news (well, it’s bad news – but at least there was a ‘good’ official response from Germany!) from the Berlinale film festival, which Iranian director Jafar Panahi was unable to attend being stuck in Tehran under house arrest.

“At the opening ceremony, German cultural minister Bernd Neumann called on Tehran to lift Panahi’s house arrest and allow him to travel to Berlin.”

Even Chancellor Merkel’s spokesman got involved when he

“Urged the Iranian government to allow Panahi to travel to Berlin to present “Closed Curtain,” saying that freedom for artists is a question of human rights.”

Likewise the German filmmakers honorably wrote letters and demonstrated at the event, disgusted by the actions of the Iranian regime. In the end, Panahi won an award for best script – which of course Tehran did not like. 

Unfortunately, Germany’s diplomatic corps is not necessarily in sync with the spirit of its artists.  Take, for example, Berlin’s ambassador to Iran – in his own words (according to Fars News Agency, to the best of our knowledge not publicly refuted):

“German Envoy to Tehran Bernd Erbel said his country should consolidate its all-out relations with Iran in a bid to avoid an undermining of its ties with Tehran by politically-tainted moves.

“As long as politics influences all dimensions of cooperation with Iran, we should increasingly strengthen ties with Iran in a bid to display our support for the Islamic Republic of Iran to everyone,” the German diplomat stated. 

At the same time, in Berlin, senior German officials and lawmakers attended the Iranian embassy to celebrate the 1979 Islamic revolution – yes, the revolution that instilled one of the world’s most oppressive regimes.

This report in Die Zeit (for all my German speaking readers) delineates a host of Iran-related sanctions violations by German businesses, business people and engineers.  These characters were dealing in satellite technology and large and sophisticated pieces of engineering equipment, which were then traded through bogus companies with the assistance of Iranian intelligence.

As if that weren’t enough, turns out German businesses are selling the Iranians drone motors, and opening up airlines which will fly weekly between Mashhad and Hamburg (also offering a connection to LA).

Meanwhile, Spiegel-online published (Feb 13) a report about Federal Customs Authority’s investigation against a former Iranian Financial Minister, who was stopped at Düsseldorf-Airport with 52 Million €-check.  For some reason he thought the German authorities wouldn’t notice.

Going back a little in time: it was recently revealed that head of the German Green party – which claims to fight for human rights and related causes – high-fived Iranian Ambassador Ali Reza Sheikh Attar at the Munich Security Conference. Was it a ‘high-five’ for supporting Assad?  A ‘high-five’ for hanging gays? Or a ‘high-five for arresting your opposition and suppressing democracy protests?

Ms. Roth… you tell me?

At least the German media responded in-kind:

“The newspaper Bild called Ms Roth “loser of the day” while a columnist for the high-brow Die Welt suggested the politician be cast into the “hall of shame” over the high-five incident.”

German ‘intellectuals’ have not been at the top of their game, either.  Walter Posch from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, for instance, recently tried desperately to find some grey areas in what was Khamenei’s very black and white rejection of direct talks two weeks ago (see my post on the matter).

After a number of posts on Germany’s relationship with Iran (and a lot of interest and correspondence from German readers), we haven’t seen much change.  At Iran Media Focus we would like to see Germany act towards Iran with more political and economic coherence – as well as moral consistency – and would also like the media to provide the public with more sustained coverage of related developments.

Posted in Domestic, Human Rights, Sanctions and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
15 Feb 2013
1 Comment

Full speed ahead for Iran

Reuters  and AFP led the way this week with the timely and responsible report that:

“Iran said on Wednesday it had started installing a new generation of machines for enriching uranium, an announcement likely to annoy the West and complicate efforts to resolve a decade-old dispute over its nuclear program.”

“It came on the day the U.N. nuclear watchdog began talks in Tehran to try to advance a long-stalled investigation into suspected military dimensions of the program.”

The Reuters report provided important context for this week’s IAEA visit:

“The IAEA has been trying for over a year to secure the access that its inspectors say they need to investigate suspicions of nuclear weapons research.”

“Its immediate priority is to visit the Parchin military base southeast of Tehran, where it suspects explosives tests relevant to nuclear weapons may have taken place, perhaps a decade ago, an accusation Tehran denies.”

A day later, on Thursday, Reuters went on to note that:

“The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Thursday it had again failed to clinch a deal in talks with Iran this week on investigating suspected atom bomb research by the Islamic state.

The lack of a breakthrough in Wednesday’s meeting in Tehran, though expected by Western diplomats, represented a new setback for international efforts to resolve a decade-old dispute over Iran’s disputed nuclear program.”

Joby Warrick in the Washington Post, who certainly understands the nuances of the Iranian regime’s sophisticated regime also reported that:

“Purchase orders obtained by nuclear researchers show an attempt by Iranian agents to buy 100,000 of the ring-shaped magnets — which are banned from export to Iran under U.N. resolutions — from China about a year ago, those familiar with the effort said. It is unclear whether the attempt succeeded.”

Warrick emphasized the significance of this purchase:

“Although Iran has frequently sought to buy banned items from foreign vendors, this case is considered unusual because of the order’s specificity and sheer size — enough magnets in theory to outfit 50,000 new centrifuges, or nearly five times the number that Iran currently operates.”

He does, however, qualify these concerns noting:

“Iran has simultaneously taken steps to ease Western anxiety over its nuclear program, chiefly by converting a portion of its uranium stockpile into a metal form that cannot be easily used to make nuclear weapons.” 

Warrick finishes with the obvious, albeit biting, quip of a diplomat:

“Adding new machines just means you get there a lot faster,” the diplomat said.”

Simultaneously on Wednesday – when the wires were demonstrating their journalistic professionalism – the NYT got the headline slightly too optimistic (‘Iran to Resume Nuclear Talks’ – one they eventually changed), but were brought back to reality with more of Iran’s predictable suspicious foot-dragging on Thursday:

Herman Nackaerts, the deputy director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the discussions “could not finalize” a document that “once agreed, should facilitate the resolution of outstanding issues regarding possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program.”

And during a week full of nuclear excitement, North Korea conducted a third and well documented nuclear test. Mark Fitzpatrick (director of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Program at the UK-based International Institute for Strategic Studies) in The National, listed some of the potential repercussions for Iran’s nuclear program.

“When Iran and North Korea signed a science and technological cooperation agreement in Tehran last September, both the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation and the defence minister were present.”

Importantly, Fitzpatrick highlights that:

Some commentators even claim that Iran could thereby develop a nuclear weapon without testing itself, because North Korea would in effect be doing so on behalf of both countries, particularly if the third test turns out to have used highly enriched uranium (HEU). North Korea’s previous tests were of plutonium devices, but the nation no longer produces plutonium and has shifted its emphasis to uranium enrichment, the backbone of Iran’s nuclear programme.

So another week of journalistic excellence from Reuters, but more disappointment from Iran when all the world is asking for… is a bit of transparency.

Posted in Domestic, Sanctions and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
08 Feb 2013
1 Comment

Khamenei’s Supreme Slap in the Face

It appears that the Iranian regime still does not quite understand the concept of negotiations.  You cannot demand everything you want as a precondition for starting negotiations Mr. Khamenei; then there would be nothing to talk about! Their dogmatism clearly extends beyond revolutionary, puritanical Shia’ Islamism.

The BBC et al, all reported Khamenei’s response to Biden’s characteristically blunt – but honest – request to sit down and talk; direct negotiations between Iran and the US.

Iran’s supreme leader, however, said negotiations with the US “would solve nothing”.

In fact, while most of the world views talks as a means of conciliation and compromise, Iran sees negotiations as part of a ‘wider threat’ thus justifying their invariable foot dragging.

“You are pointing a gun at Iran saying you want to talk. The Iranian nation will not be frightened by the threats,” he said.

As the Guardian noted, Iran still wants something for nothing: the removal of sanctions, before negotiations.

“Khamenei made clear in Thursday’s speech that talks with the US will not be feasible as long as Washington holds on to it carrot-and-stick approach to Tehran, offering talks while imposing its toughest sanctions against the Islamic republic.”

The Daily Star (Reuters piece) highlighted that:

“Any rapprochement would require direct talks addressing many sources of mutual mistrust that have lingered since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution”.

Indeed.  But trust can only be built through (i) talking and (ii) transparency.  Two very big ‘T’s that this current Iranian regime is avoiding like the plague.

Khamenei’s very open rebuff now puts Iran’s FM Ali Akbar Salehi’s “I am optimistic [about negotiations with the US]” statement in the same shallow propaganda category as Slippery Hossein Mousavian – about whom I have written on a number of occasions – and his recent remarks at Chatham House.

And as the war of words continues, Reuters informs us that:

“Tehran announced late last month it planned to install the new machines at its main enrichment plant.

The move underlined Iran’s defiance of international demands to scale back the uranium enrichment which Tehran says is for civilian purposes but which could also potentially be used to make material for atom bombs.

Olli Heinonen, until 2010 a deputy director general of the UN nuclear agency, said Iran had started purchasing special materials needed for manufacturing new centrifuges years ago when the sanctions on the country were not as strict as now.”

So while the Iranian regime may be bluffing regarding talks, when it comes to enrichment, they are supremely serious.

Posted in Domestic, Sanctions and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,
06 Feb 2013
1 Comment

Something (good) is going down in Germany

 

This past week Iran’s foreign minister entered Germany with a swagger and left with his tail between his legs. We’ve decided to provide our readers with a full picture of media coverage for those who may not read both German and English.

I’ve already written a number of posts about the healthy nature of German-Iranian trade and FM Westerwelle’s hypocrisy when it comes to human rights in Iran.

Maybe my posts are having an effect – this from Reuters:

“I have good news – I heard yesterday that the P5+1 or EU3+3 will be meeting in Kazakhstan on Feb. 25,” he said at the Munich Security Conference. He did not make clear whether Iran had agreed to the meeting. He said he took with “positive consideration” comments by U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday in which he held out the possibility of direct talks with Iran.”

No excitement.

The German Foreign Minister responded with polite indifference.

Ruprecht Polenz, Head of the Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee, was rather more outspoken. His response to the flippant Salehi is worth a read and presented here at length:

“When Salehi was asked about the goals of Iran’s nuclear program, he launched into a long account of Iran’s rich history, its long civilization, and its outstanding scientific tradition. And then he said Iran would not be dictated to by any power. “We will be nobody’s lackey,” he insisted.

During this 115-minute panel discussion, besides shirking the answer about his country’s nuclear ambitions, Salehi blamed the international community for singling out Iran and not curbing the nuclear programs of other countries. He didn’t mention the case of Israel, but he certainly implied it. The international community, he said, was not interested in truth.

Ruprecht Polenz, an experienced foreign affairs specialist in Germany’s governing Christian Democratic Union party, was not prepared to remain silent over Salehi’s digressions.

In a rare show of outspokenness, he said that if Salehi cared so much about his country’s rich tradition, he should be worried about how the sanctions imposed by Europe and the United States were damaging his own people and even the fabric of society.

Moreover, added Polenz, if Salehi had nothing to hide about Iran’s nuclear program, why didn’t he spell out what Iran wanted to do with its nuclear power?

“Here in Germany, we have accidents on the motorway. One driver goes in the opposite direction of the traffic flow. When he is questioned, he blames the other drivers. It is they who were driving in the wrong direction,” Polenz said. “Iran is like a ghost driver. Always blaming others.”

Polenz, too, criticized Iran’s human rights record and how it was supporting the Assad regime in Syria.

When participants asked Salehi why Iran was supporting Assad by supplying it with weapons and fighters, Salehi simply replied: “The truth will decide.”

Clemens Wergin, in Die Welt, writes about this exchange and notes the irony that –  of all countries – it was a representative of Germany, considered one of the weaker contributors to the sanctions regime, who came out so strongly against Iran.

And so with no luck in Munich… Salehi made his way to Berlin.

First of all, he was met by about a hundreddemonstrators protesting Iran’s abhorrent human rights record and opaque nuclear program.  As he went on stage at a think tank he was called a murderer by a member of the German Green Party.  He was then inundated with tricky questions which he struggled to answer (for my German readers).  He was even challenged about the mythological fatwa (see my previous posts here and here on the matter).

Poor Salehi was also heavily criticized by much of the international media on the continued open support Iran provides Assad’s murderous military machine in Syria.

In fact, the Reuters piece rubs salt in the wounds noting the Iranian Foreign Minister’s pathetic responses:

“Iran was only sending economic assistance, food and fuel, said the minister, adding that the Damascus government and opposition should sit down, agree a ceasefire and call free elections in which he said Assad should be free to take part.”

And where would an Iranian official visit be without a question on Holocaust denial…

Salehi was asked by an Israeli newspaper correspondent if he would visit the Holocaust monument in Berlin to 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis, and what he thought of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s repeated denials that the Holocaust took place.

“Any holocaust is a human tragedy,” Salehi replied, refusing to be drawn deeper on the subject.

Overall: not a very successful trip for Mr. Salehi. Cudos to the media following him around for getting it right.

Posted in Domestic, Human Rights, Sanctions and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
21 Jan 2013
4 Comments

Iran spreading the love (actually the terror… but we can always hope)

The tentacles are spreading far and wide. An authoritative report has just reconfirmed this. The media got the juicy stuff, but not the gist (why, we’re not sure).

Iran’s major front – the global subversive/psychological/ideological campaign – is led by its ‘all-knowing’ Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).  The Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress has produced a lengthy report on the ministry’s work. While the headlines were about Iranian listening posts in Syria and the Golan Heights,

The report tells us much more:

MOIS is active wherever the Iranian government has interests. MOIS operates in Iran and  cooperates with the Quds Force in the Middle East (Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, and Lebanon), Central Asia, Africa, Europe (Austria, Azerbaijan, Croatia, France, Georgia, Germany, Turkey, the United Kingdom), and the Americas, including the United States.

The same report notes:

Latin America is an area of major interest for the Iranians. The existence of Iranian intelligence activities in countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Venezuela, where Iran has political and economic interests, is also part of Iran’s strategy of establishing a presence in the backyard of the United States for purposes of expanding Shi’a and revolutionary ideology, establishing networks for intelligence and covert operations, and waging asymmetrical warfare against the United States. In Latin America, Iran’s intelligence agencies— MOIS but mostly the Quds Force—use Hezbollah to achieve their goals.

And adds:

In Europe, MOIS maintains a significant network in Germany. In January 2011, Hans-Peter Friedrich, Germany’s interior minister, and Heinz Fromm, head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (the German equivalent of the FBI), reported that the main responsibility of MOIS is “monitoring the opposition groups in and out of Iran and fighting against them.” According to their report, MOIS also has been collecting information on politics, economy, and science in Germany, and it adds, “Most intelligence activities against Germany are carried out by this ministry [MOIS]. The report also notes: “The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence is seeking to attract German citizens to cooperate with the ministry. This applies to citizens who often travel to Iran for visiting their families or for business.”

Germany… and the icing on the proverbial cake:

Vienna, the capital city of Austria is allegedly full of MOIS agents. It is because of the continuous good relationship between Iran and Austria since the Revolution—after the U.S. hostage crisis, which resulted in condemnation of the Islamic Republic by many countries and secluded Iran in many ways, Austria was one of the few countries that was not concerned. It appears that Iran takes advantage of this relationship by deploying its intelligence officers in Austria. It has been reported that MOIS agents identify anti–Islamic Republic political activists and threaten to silence them.

Ponder that next time you’re enjoying an apple strudel at Cafe Diglas. Shouldn’t come as any surprise, though: last year readers of the press in Germany, a country often criticized for its softer stance towards the Iranian regime, learned that the Iranian consulate in Munich sent threatening emails to a rapper in exile.

As The Guardian reported back in May:

 “An Iranian rapper has become “the Salman Rushdie of music” after clerics in the Islamic republic issued fatwas calling him an apostate, which is considered punishable by death under the country’s sharia law… Shahin Najafi, a Germany-based Iranian singer, recently released a song with references to Ali al-Hadi al-Naqi, the tenth of the 12 Shia Muslim Imams, a religious figure highly respected by millions in Iran.”

Most recently, the New York Times reported on Iranian influence in Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, the Ivory Coast, Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea (and let’s not forget the Taliban in Afghanistan).  We’re talking bullets here – and taking into consideration the last week’s violence in Mali and Algeria, Shia’ bullets are the last thing the African continent needs.

It doesn’t end there. Brazil – despite being openly warm to the Iranian regime in the recent past – has recently been tickled uncomfortably by the ideological tentacles of the Islamic Republic.

Today many get it. Canada has reacted with prudence to Iran’s psychological warfare and indoctrination efforts.  Congress is becoming more aware, and subsequently more vigilant, regarding Iran’s actions in their backyard.

Is your country/media on the same page?

 

Posted in Domestic, Other News and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
16 Jan 2013
2 Comments

The Imaginary Fatwa Reappears

The AP told its readers and subscribers yesterday that:

“ Iran sought Tuesday to spell out in its clearest terms yet that it is not seeking nuclear weapons, highlighting a religious decree issued by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that bans nuclear weapons.”

Ali Akbar Dareini, from the AP goes on to note that:

Iran authorities have often cited Khamenei’s religious edict, made more than seven years ago, in attempts to counter Western suspicion that Iran could be moving toward nuclear arms.

To highlight its seriousness, Dareini quotes an Iranian official, Ramin Mehmanparast, who said that, Iran would be willing to “register the fatwa as an international document.” 

The only problem is… there is no document. There is no fatwa. Try and find it on any of Khameinei’s official sites of publications.  I have written in the past at length on this imaginary fatwa (worth a read if I may say so myself).   Likewise, the ‘supreme leader’ has been asked on many occasions about this mythological fatwa, and no response has ever been provided.

Sir, I would like it in writing…

Of course, the Iranian desire to rehash this myth is understandable: another IAEA inspections team has landed, sanctions continue to bite, tough talks lurk around the corner, and the threat of force remains an option. But what about the media, providing such a undiscerning platform?  Consider these headlines:

Fox News: Iran says supreme leader’s ban on nuclear weapons is binding 

TIME: Iran: Khamenei’s Ban of Nuclear Weapons Binding

CBS News: Iran: Religious decree against nuclear weapons is binding

Washington Post: Iran says supreme leader’s ban rules out nuclear weapons

You guys should be ashamed of yourselves! You look much too much like these:

Russia Today: Iran reiterates religious ban on atomic weapons ahead of IAEA talks

Press TV: Leader’s fatwa on nuclear weapons binding for Iran: Foreign Ministry

Antiwar.com: Iran: Khamenei’s Ban on Nuclear Weapons Should End Issue

Look at that – so much benefit of the doubt. At least somebody got it right:

Al-Bawaba: Nuclear threat not over til Iran’s Supreme Leader issues a fatwa!

Love the subtle nuance. For those who didn’t get it, Al-Babawa – which I understand is a Jordan-UAE joint production – ends with this:

Have your say: Do you think the statement is a political ploy? Or is there sincerity behind this unusual religious ruling?

Need I say more…?

Posted in Domestic, Military, Other News and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
03 Dec 2012
2 Comments

Reading between the lines of a diagram

The international community, foggy about Iran’s clandestine nuclear activities, is finally growing tired of Tehran’s refusal to let the IAEA in.

But you may have missed that development, what with all the media commotion this past week focusing exclusively on what’s being leaked – particularly the now-famous diagram leaked to the AP – instead of what Iran’s doing.

As noted in our recent blog; no one claimed this was a smoking gun.  However crude and simplistic the diagram may be, it is yet another piece of evidence (however weak you may judge it to be) to be piled upon the satellite imagery, persistent lack of Iranian cooperation with the IAEA (see recent blog post) and indeed the UN organizations subsequently damming reports on Iran’s opaque nuclear program.

George Jahn, who originally released the leaked source, follows up a barrage of criticism by highlighting that:

“A senior diplomat familiar with the probe of Iran by the IAEA told the AP on Friday that the agency suspects that Iranian scientists calculating a nuclear yield intentionally simplified the diagram to make it comprehensible to Iranian government officials to whom they were presenting it. He said that when the right data are plugged in, the yield is indeed 50 kilotons.”

The American-Iranian Council, the known ‘beacon of neutrality’ (note sarcasm) on the Iranian nuclear program immediately looks for a simple explanation and blames Israel (the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald unsurprisingly jumped to the same conclusions):   “That Associated Press story displaying a graph alleged to be part of an Iranian computer simulation of a nuclear explosion — likely leaked by Israel…” 

Well actually, Jahn continues…

“The diplomat, who is considered neutral on Iran’s nuclear program, spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to divulge intelligence.”

And he was not alone…

“He and a second diplomat said other classified material held by the IAEA supports concerns that the graph may be part of a past Iranian effort at developing nuclear weapons. The second diplomat comes from a country suspicious of Iran’s nuclear intentions but not from the nation that shared the diagram with the AP.” 

Neither is this an anomalous jigsaw piece:

“The drawing seen by the AP is not the only diagram obtained by the IAEA that raised agency suspicion.  The U.N. agency reported on Nov. 8, 2011, that it had obtained diagrams it suspects shows Iran doing studies in nuclear yields, adding: “The application of such studies to anything other than a nuclear explosive is unclear to the agency.” And the senior diplomat on Tuesday confirmed that the graph seen by the AP was indeed one of those cited by the IAEA.”

At a glance, it is merely a graph, a diagram; and certainly no smoking gun.  If we are going to continue with the metaphors and idioms, it is not even the straw the breaks the camel’s back.  But reading between the lines, and seeing this diagram (and the others the IAEA claims to have) in the context of continuous Iranian deception regarding just about everything related to their nuclear program; all of a sudden it is no longer just a diagram.

Posted in Domestic and tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Post Navigation

← Older Entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 48 other followers

%d bloggers like this: