The Latest from Iran (26 May): Propaganda Watch

0610 GMT: We open this morning with an analysis linking the nuclear discussions with economic issues, "Propaganda, Negotiations, and the Economic Ties That Bind".

And this is not the only case of reality and rhetoric this morning. On Friday, the latest International Atomic Energy report on Iran's nuclear programme was posted. The conclusion is a brief re-statement of the IAEA's position in recent years --- while there is no evidence of Tehran's diversion of uranium to a militarised effort, the Agency would like wider access to Iranian facilities, confirmed by the Islamic Republic's accession to the Additional Protocol of the Safeguards Agreement regulating inspections: 

 

While the Agency continues to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material at the nuclear facilities and LOFs declared by Iran under its Safeguards Agreement, as Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation, including by not implementing its Additional Protocol, the Agency is unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.

If there is breaking news in the report, it is the IAEA's optimism after recent talks with Iran, including Director General Yukiya Amano's discussions in Tehran on Monday:

Progress was made on a structured approach to clarifying the issues outlined in the Annex to the 

Director General’s November 2011 report. The Director General invites Iran to expedite final agreement on the structured approach, as agreed with Mr Jalili, in Tehran on 21 May 2012, and urges Iran to engage the Agency on the substance of the issues as soon as possible, including by providing early access to the Parchin [military] site. 

This, however, did not necessarily fit the preferred narratives of media outlets in the US and the Iran. So the Associated Press, fed by "diplomats", decided to put out the scary story that Iran had enriched some uranium to 27%, beyond the 20% level that Tehran has claimed. The problem for the attempt at scariness was that 1) the 27% figure could be explained by technical aspects of the process, rather than malicious intent and so 2) the AP's implication of an Iranian push for military weapons capability was unsupported.

Meanwhile, Iran's Press TV sets out the mirror image, "IAEA Report Says No Diversion in Iranian Nuclear Program", omitting all other passages, including the call for more inspections and safeguards.

 

from EA WorldView: EA Iran

Posted via email from lissping