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Iran Doesn't Have a Nuclear Weapons Program. Why Do Media Keep Saying It Does?
When it comes to Iran, do basic facts matter? Evidently not, since dozens and dozens of journalists keep casually reporting that Iran has a "nuclear weapons program" when it does not—a problem FAIR has reported on over the years (e.g., 9/9/15). Let's take a look at some of the outlets spreading this falsehood in just the past five days:
Business Insider (10/13/17): "The deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aims to incentivize Iran to curb its nuclear weapons program by lifting crippling international economic sanctions."
New Yorker (10/16/17): "One afternoon in late September, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called a meeting of the six countries that came together in 2015 to limit Iran's nuclear weapons program."
Washington Post (10/16/17): "The administration is also considering changing or scrapping an international agreement regarding Iran's nuclear weapons program."
CNN (10/17/17): "In reopening the nuclear agreement, [Trump] risks having Iran advance its nuclear weapons program at a time when he confronts a far worse nuclear challenge from North Korea that he can't resolve."
The problem with all of these excerpts: There is no documentation that Iran has a nuclear weapons program.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Monday October 23 2017, @04:14AM (2 children)
They've been enriching well beyond 3%, on military bases, with A.Q. Khan assistance. That's not what a peaceful energy program looks like.
For an honest informed list of pros and cons, check out the Federation of American Scientists report at https://fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RL34544.pdf [fas.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by n1 on Monday October 23 2017, @05:50AM
Nothing says honest like a Washington DC based organization with a President who previously worked at the 'highly influential' Council on Foreign Relations think-tank, his work there focused on the Iran threat and US policy 'failing to take into account' the threat of nuclear terrorism.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 23 2017, @08:28AM
And they've also been smuggling funny radioactive materials too from Russia .... and you know for what? Medicine.
http://nationalpost.com/news/russia-seizes-radioactive-material-bound-for-iran-at-moscow-airport [nationalpost.com]
http://www.sciencegateway.org/isotope/sodium.html [sciencegateway.org]
http://www.ibtimes.com/russian-tries-smuggle-radioactive-metal-iran-384144 [ibtimes.com]
https://thebulletin.org/highly-enriched-uranium-less-more/how-dispense-highly-enriched-uranium [thebulletin.org]
You see, HEU is important for isotope production in nuclear medicine, both for diagnostic and therapy. Without this, tens of thousands of people in Iran will die every year. Iran has uranium resources, but it cannot utilize them because of the nuclear weapons paranoia. Hey, North Korea has nuclear weapons now, and what?? It's isolated. If Iran made a nuclear weapon, it would be quickly become as isolated as North Korea. And that would kill the current Iranian regime.
So, stop with the paranoia about Iran. If Iran is considered to have fucked up government, it is directly the result of British and Americans meddling with it in the 1950s already and imposing dictatorship because they didn't like their democracy (that nationalized British Oil assets, btw). Iranian government is trying to become more liberal, but every step of the way is being fought by the idiots in US or Israel. My only hope is they will not do something stupid (yes, I'm looking at Trump's twitter feed now)