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: Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program. It has a civilian nuclear energy program, but not one designed to build weapons. Over 30 countries have civilian nuclear programs; only a handful—including, of course, the US and Israel—have nuclear weapons programs. One is used to power cities, one is used to level them.
If you are skeptical, just refer to a 2007 assessment by all 16 US intelligences agencies (yes, those 16 US intelligence agencies), which found Iran had “halted” its nuclear weapons program. Or look at the same National Intelligence Estimate in 2012, which concluded again that there “is no hard evidence that Iran has decided to build a nuclear bomb.” Or we can listen to the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, which concurred with the US intelligence assessment (Haaretz, 3/18/12).
The “Iran Deal,” formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is built on curbing Iran’s civilian nuclear program, out of fear—fair or not—that it could one day morph into a nuclear weapons program. But at present, there is no evidence, much less a consensus, that Iran has an active nuclear weapons program. JCPOA cannot be used as per se evidence such a program exists today; indeed, it is specifically designed to prevent such a program from developing down the road.
A slightly less egregious variant of this canard is when outlets suggest the JCPOA stopped an ongoing existing weapons program—though they don’t make the mistake of saying it still exists: The JCPOA “called for the elimination of economic sanctions Iran in exchange for Tehran giving up its nuclear weapons program,” USA Today (10/13/17) wrote. US and Israeli intelligence do claim that Iran once had a nuclear weapons program—but they say it ended in 2003, not in 2015 as a result of the JCPOA.
The distinction between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons is, of course, non-trivial. Every time the media mindlessly report Iran has a “nuclear weapons program” rather than a “nuclear program” (or, better, a “nuclear energy” or “nuclear power program”), they further advance the myth that Iran’s intentions or “ambitions” are to build a nuclear bomb, which is something we have no evidence it is doing or plans to do—at least since the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa against building nuclear weapons in 2003 (Foreign Policy, 10/16/14).
So why do some many reporters keep mucking this up? A few reasons: It’s just a mantra repeated ad infinitum, and journalists and pundits often mindlessly repeat an oft-repeated phrase. Some, such as nuclear arms expert Jeffrey Lewis at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Middlebury Institute, think it’s simply an issue of reporters not knowing how to express a complicated idea.
“I often see this point [about the civilian vs weapons program] mangled. I don’t think it’s malice, just a writer or editor not knowing how to express an idea,” he said on social media. “The JCPOA imposes measures that constrain Iran’s nuclear energy program to provide confidence that the program remains peaceful,” he added, offering an example of how that idea can be expressed.
Another major reason for this recurring falsehood, as FAIR (7/6/17) noted after the New York Times twice “mistakenly” accused Iran of carrying out 9/11 (one of the smears going uncorrected for over three years), is that one can say pretty much anything about Iran without any professional or public backlash. Because Iran is an Official US Enemy, and its motives are therefore always deemed sinister, the idea that it is plotting to violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and build a nuclear weapon is simply taken as a given. The lack of hard evidence for this is irrelevant: Intentions of those in the crosshairs of US power are always presented as cynical and malicious; those of the US and its allies benevolent and in good faith. Iran’s sinister motives are simply the default setting—no matter much evidence points to the contrary.
bb
That is because the US Foreign Policy is dictated by Israel. And now even more so by Saudi Arabia against iran.
15 of the hijackers were saudis.
Saudis fund, literally teach wahabism, Isis’s idealogy. They kill innocent civilians in Yemen, with american weapons mind you
Iran has not invaded another country for 250 years. US? Bombed 27 countries since world war II
But people are generally pretty stupid and believe anything they see on TV.
Cyrus
If you repeat something enough, it becomes “true”. This is called the “Illusion of Truth” effect. When the media refers to a non-existent nuclear program as an established truth, repeatedly, it becomes a social truth just by virtue of repetition.
TeeJae
“it’s simply an issue of reporters not knowing how to express a complicated idea.”
No, it’s an issue of reporters following orders to perpetuate a certain narrative. There’s nothing “complicated” about replacing the word “weapons” with “energy.”
Jasper den Ouden
Sometimes car accidents just happen because toddlers can’t drive very well. It is just a truth we gotta live with. (banthering about what a probably innocent person said…)
Jeffrey Fein
It’s more than that. If a reporter dared to write: “alleged” nuclear weapons program, or “non-existent”, or “disputed”, or any other qualifier that hinted at the truth, his/her career would be over. Israel wants Iran destroyed, and quite naturally wants the US to do it for them. Just like they got the US to destroy Iraq, Libya, and Syria (almost). Anyone interfering with, or straying from the the media message promoting that effort will find their career terminated. Paraphrasing Patrick Buchanan (I think): The US Congress (and substantial portions of the Executive, the State Department in particular) are Zionist-controlled territory.
I’m an American and a Jew and I do not approve of this country, my country, the US, being subverted by Israel, and I am particularly outraged by the American Jewish community, too easily hood-winked into believing that Israel is a good thing, helping to subvert American governance on behalf of a foreign crypto-hostile power.
For five-thousand years — Egypt, old Israel, Spain/Portugal, medieval Europe, and modern Europe — the Jews have been repeating the same screw-up: rising to power, abusing the locals, and then suffering the reaction –“blowback”. It’s their pattern. When Americans finally discover how it’s now their turn to be betrayed by the Jews, there will be hell to pay. As a jew, I’d like to see an intervention to forestall that pushback. For my own personal safety, for the safety — their misguided tribalism aside — of the American Jewish community, and for the benefit the world derives from the historic over-achievement of the Jews in art, science, music, medicine, law, commerce, and finance.
Adrian Rops
Thank you Jeffrey Fein!
You made my day and it is so refreshing to read the opinion of an American Jew that spells out the real facts of life instead of the usual hysterical Zionist garbage that is relentlessly spread around by the likes of Wolf Blitzer at CNN, the New York Times and, not to forget, the Los Angeles Times. I know that the J-Street Jews in Washington DC agree with you and join them in saluting an honest and upstanding citizen!
Martin
“The lack of hard evidence for this is irrelevant: Intentions of those in the crosshairs of US power are always presented as cynical and malicious; those of the US and its allies benevolent and in good faith.”
Noam Chomsky and Edward Hermann made that point ages ago, then using examples comparing Soviet attacks against Polish Solidarnosh and Central American atrocities (US enabled).
An eternal truth?
Tuyzentfloot
Not so fast young man. If we take the consensus view in intelligence community that Iran had a nuclear weapons program until 2003, then what does it mean that they stopped it? Was everything thrown out? Did it just go dormant? If it is dormant is it no longer a weapons program? Does it cease to exist because it is suspended?
Or maybe the idea of the weapons program still exists. Maybe the Iranians very much want a weapons program and all they have is the idea. But as V once said, ideas are bulletproof. Now we’re not going to nitpick about the minor distinction between an active development of a nuclear weapon and the idea of a program are we? Let alone what the meaning of ‘nuclear weapons program’ might have been in 2007 when the NIE said there had been one. They seem to have stretched the interpretation as well. But let’s not be picky.
Mark
Good Lord. We take it as the literal interpretation of the terms of the “deal” by which Iran is abiding to the letter according to every international observer. In that “deal”, there are specific requirements that pertain to the types of facilities, materials, equipment and monitoring that must be met in order for the “deal” to be certified.
Hence, Iran unequivocally does not have a nuclear weapons program now, at least since 2007 to use your arbitrary timeline, and that is all that matters according to the agreement, about which the news stories being discussed here are being written. Kindly take the neocon falsehoods elsewhere.
Tuyzentfloot
Well how about ‘alleged’ nuclear weapons program. You can’t have any problem with that! So what if sometimes people omit ‘alleged’ , then it’s just implicitly understood as being present.
King of Things
It is “alleged” only as long as someone makes such allegation. And maybe media should stop making that allegation, for there are no factual basis for it. What is people constantly refer to you as an “alleged pedophile”? It would not be technically wrong if that allegation was made often. You can’t have any problem with that!
carroll price
As to the question why so many news reporters keep “mucking up”, the short answer is because the news media in the Western World is owned by Jews, who refuse to report anything not favorable to Israel’s interest.
george Archers
The real reason all the major USA (Jewish) media are pushing the lie that Iran has nukes—- Israel wants Iran destroyed like the 6 others.
NH Making Waves
This recurring problem is not just a mistake, nor is it that “Jews are out to get us.” Like with the Russians-hacking-our-election narrative, the echo-chamber of think-tanks, shouting pundits and well-funded lobbyists allows innuendo to become the assumed reality behind all future coverage. The almost complete lack of evidence supporting these stories changes little for our consolidated, corporate media.
The key consistent factor is that these false stories serve the goals of the already powerful, to keep and expand their power, at the expense of everyone else. Allied regimes Saudi Arabia and Israel have been itching for the US to clobber Iran, because they see dominating the region as their birthright. Undermining Trump’s ability to implement those campaign promises which were progressive and constructive, while ensuring a permanent adversarial posture towards Russia serves trans-national corporations and the arms industry.
In a country with any pretext of democracy, controlling the perceptions of the public with PR lies as news is necessary to maximize quarterly profits, even though that could soon mean the end of humanity from climate disasters or nuclear war.
edgar
Or, Israel.
Mark
The Israel lobby and the level of control that Israel sympathizers (by no means confined to Jews) hold over the Infotainment arm of the Military-Surveillance-Infotainment-Banking complex will ensure that the prevailing narrative is one friendly to hardline Israeli policies and goals. Further, much as was the case in the runup to our illegal invasion of Iran (and our illegal assistance to ISIS in Syria), the media will be incentivized to propagate the anti-_____ narrative (insert “Axis of Evil” country) in order to numb the public or in extreme cases, rile them up for the pending military action – usually justified in response to a false flag. This time is and will be no different. Israelis will be dancing and singing as they were on 9/11 when this year’s “Gulf of Tonkin” incident happens between the U.S. and Iran.
Terclinger
“Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program. It has a civilian nuclear energy program, but not one designed to build weapons”
What a pile of dung. What’s next “Iran loves Israel and America, and there’ is complete freedom in Iran, especially for women and gays”.
Do you suck up to the biggest exporter of armed jihad for free? for sex?
Germany just reported over THIRTY attempts by Iran to purchase nuclear WEAPONS technology. IN GERMANY.
If Iran ever manages to sneak a nuke into the U.S., I hope they set it off right under your chair.
Bd
SOURCES PLEASE OR STFU
Fred
“Do you suck up to the biggest exporter of armed jihad for free? for sex?”
Indeed, our sucking up to the Saudis is very disgusting.
rick
You’d think Germany would agree with Trump if that were true. Why did Germany state that the deal is working???? And the fact Iran doesn’t like us or our s**ty little friend doesn’t have anything to do with the nuke deal. How would you feel towards Iran if they had overthrown your democratically government and installed the vicious Shah? The Iran being and exporter of jihad is nonsensical and a neocon talking point that has no basis in fact. Go away.
WONDERing WOMAN
HMMMM—– does Israel have any gay or female rabbis yet—and are women allowed at the Wailing Wall? I have heard that the answer to this would be “no” Is this correct? Actually though, a lot of religions don’t work so well for gay people or women, and in fact is a BIG problem for most nations of the world….it makes a person wonder if this will ever be settled—-although a person hopes that religion would be wiser and kinder than war, but sometimes, it;s just really hrad to tell the difference at all : (
Mongoose
Considering none of their nuclear facilities they deem as military can be inspected how do you know they don’t?
Terry Palmer
Seriously, Adam. The best news job you could get was splitting hairs for CAIR? Your parents must be so proud
William
The real reason that the media continue to deliberately publish inaccurate accounts about Iran and its non-existent nuclear weapons program is because the main stream media in this country are all owned or controlled by American Jews who are passionately attached to Israel. This is a sad thing to have to say, and is unpleasant and potentially explosive, but the truth is
that there is no independent, fair and balanced media in the U.S. For the first time a truly significant number of Americans are
beginning to realize this fact. The media is scorned because it deserves to be scorned.
A free press is essential to the survival of a democracy, and we don’t have a free and independent press. What we have is an enormous propaganda machine, consisting of both electronic and print sources.
Finally, lest anyone take me for a right wing nut, a KKK hate monger, or anti-Semite, I deny any such allegations, and I deny them
with the contempt they deserve. I am a long time liberal devoted to complete racial, religious, ethnic, and social equality. I believe in the principles on which this country was founded, and if what I say makes me sound like a lunatic to many, many people, then so be it. Someone must take a stand. Some one must tell the truth. And you won’t get the truth from any corporate media source.
Tom Roche
We both agree that false claims are being made by our corporate-funded media (aka USCFM). And, since these claims are being made by humans, we can’t be sure why: “at the end of every neck is a black box.” That being said, it seems reasonable to test hypotheses of intent (or lack thereof, i.e., mindlessness), in any situation, with 4 pieces of evidence (in increasing order of perceived importance):
1. number of persons by which the falsehood is broadcast. As that number increases, the probability of unique causation decreases.
2. length of time over which the falsehood is broadcast. As time increases, the probability of unique causation (i.e., by any single intent) decreases.
3. education of persons broadcasting the falsehood. As that level increases, the probability of unique causation by mindlessness decreases.
4. incentives to broadcast the falsehood. As those incentives increase, the probability of rational behavior (i.e., uttering Big Lies for personal advancement) increases.
Point# 4 is particularly important. IIUC, it is not merely the case that
and
In fact, in the USCFM, esp in its elite precincts, one gets in, stays in, and advances, by *consistently* and unerringly uttering such credos.
Therefore, in this case (USCFM broadcasting a false claim regarding an Iranian nuclear-weapons program), mindlessness is a low-probability intent.
WONDERing WOMAN
This is kind of long—-sorry, but these are some thoughts, and I would appreciate it if people would not scream “Anti-semetic” at my thoughts because that is a confusing term since Arabs are semites, so i have no idea what anti-semetic’ means nowadays. Maybe it’s time to just stop giving money to israel… I mean they have been getting money from America for a long time. From 1948 to 2018 will be 70 years. So, bring back the rest of that 10 billion they received and use it for Puero Rico, and Texas and Louisiana, and Florida and all the fires in Californioa. We could also clean up the water in Flint and other places,. So if we weren’t giving Israel all that money, I think the world and lots of Americans would be better off. Has Haiti recovered ever, and if not we should give help to nations who really need it.
own
Now the other thing is that America is still mad that Iran took their own oil back. Also, why is Israel so mad at Iran, because a really huge jewish population lives in Iran and they are not moving to Israel—-Jewsih people seem to have a second homeland iin Iran. The 3rd weird thiing is that while Israel has invaded Palestine, lebanon, Egypt , Syria, and I’m sure others too, Itan hasn;t invaded another nation. Also Iran lets peopple in to see their non-bomb nucklear, but Israel won’t join the IAEA’so really no one should listen to a country that wants every one else to play by the rules, but they win;t. Finally, isn’t the only reason israel has nuclear bombs is becaise jonathan pollardl, an Ameerican citozen stole theionformation and sold it to israel… geez and he got to walk affter 30 years. i wonder who he’ll sell Israel to? Oh well, I think many people are looking at Israel and thinking, you had help and sympathy and support after WW II, but now, you have become just another nation led by mean people, who seem to value money and goods over the 10 Commanments, although someone told me that Judism and israeli are 2 separate and not necessairly connected entities……This is not the Israel that I have read about in Altnewland from Herzel—– Maybe if that Mr. Netantahuy were gone, Israel would be a much better nation. I am horrified that some in Congress want to make supporting BDS into a
crime—–where did the idea of America and the First Amendment go to??