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: 1) by khallow on Monday October 23 2017, @01:55PM
This goes beyond what-if. I found the 2011 IAEA report [isis-online.org] in question. Look through appendix C. We have stuff like
It's worth noting as well that Iran was conducting uranium enrichment activities at Natanz as late as 2013 [nti.org]. And the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant [wikipedia.org] is buried inside a mountain. There's a lot of effort over the last decade by the Iranian military to protect its enriched uranium production, which wouldn't make sense for the oft claimed medical purposes (not to mention the volume of enriched uranium that would be produced).