The drawing that "proves" Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons --- a "high-explosives containment chamber" at the Parchin military site
0655 GMT: The Lashing of the Cartoonist. Discussion continues of the sentence of 25 lashings handed out to Mahmoud Shokraye for a cartoon of Ahmad Lotfi Ashtiani.
The head of Iran’s House of Cartoonists, Masooud Shojai Tabatabai, said Sunday that the matter had been blown out of proportion by media outlets challening the Islamic Republic. At the same, he said the drawing was “very simple, critical and completely free of any insulting interpretations” and the sentence was “very heavy” and added: “All this happens while [other] cartoons of Government officials have been accepted with great tolerance.”
Tabatabai continues, “If a cartoonist cannot draw a simple image of a member of parliament, then how can he be a cartoonist?”
Shokraye depicted Ashtiani as a football player in Amir magazine after the former MP's proposed transfer of the Iran Football League from Tehran to Arak, his constituency, was seen by some as publicity for the recent Parliamentary elections.
Fereshteh Ghazi offers an overview of the incident and the critical reaction, and here is the cartoon that caused all the bother:
0555 GMT: We began with a weekend incident which, depending on your perspective, is either a revelation of Iran's devious pursuit of a nuclear weapon or a clumsy attempt by the US and its allies to push Tehran into a corner as discussions near in Baghdad on 23 May.
On Sunday, some Western media outlets were breathless over an Associated Press "exclusive":
A drawing based on information from inside an Iranian military site shows an explosives containment chamber of the type needed for nuclear arms-related tests that U.N. inspectors suspect Tehran has conducted there. Iran denies such testing and has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such a chamber.
The computer-generated drawing was provided to The Associated Press by an official of a country tracking Iran’s nuclear program who said it proves the structure exists, despite Tehran’s refusal to acknowledge it.
That official said the image is based on information from a person who had seen the chamber at the Parchin military site, adding that going into detail would endanger the life of that informant. The official comes from an IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] member country that is severely critical of Iran’s assertions that its nuclear activities are peaceful and asserts they are a springboard for making atomic arms.
Last November's IAEA report on the Iranian nuclear programme raised questions about a high-explosive containment chamber at Parchin, although there was little evidence to back up claims that this could be related to militarisation. Tensions were further raised earlier this year when Iranian authorities refused entry to Parchin to IAEA inspectors, claiming the right protocols had not been observed. Reports --- revelation or mis-information, take your pick --- appeared that Tehran was "cleaning up" the site ahead of any possible visit.
What's the context for all this?
An Iranian delegation is meeting IAEA representatives in Vienna today " to devise a framework for answering questions about Tehran’s nuclear energy program", in the words of Press TV.
The head of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, has a more specific aim, telling a journalist that the "standoff" over access to Parchin "has become like a symbol" and vowed to "pursue this objective until there's a concrete result": "We have information and there are some moves. There's something moving out there. Going there soon is better."
So the nuclear cartoon is probably best seen as an attempt at some negotiating leverage. To readers in the West, it keeps suspicions stoked, while to the Iranians, it says we're watching you and we're not easing the pressure.
This does not mean a break-down in the broader talks between Iran and the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Russia, Germany, and China) in Baghdad next week. In September 2009, Washington tried a similar --- and even higher-profile --- "exclusive", with President Obama supposedly revealing the existence of a secret uranium enrichment plant at Fordoo. (The Iranians had told the IAEA of the construction days earlier.) The subsequent Geneva talks between Tehran and the 5+1, however, were not halted; indeed, they were the closest the two sides have come to agreement over the nuclear issue.
Posted via email from lissping
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