The Long History of Lies about Iran
This article written by Muhammad Sahimi and
published by "Information
Clearing House" -"Antiwar" needs to be read carefully
by all those who are still trying to find reasons for the assaults on Iraq and
Afghanistan. The United States has a plan to attack at least five countries.
Syria and Iran are on the top and name of Pakistan is also there.
There was a flood of articles and analyses on the tenth
anniversary of invasion of Iraq on March 19, most of which focused on
the lies, exaggerations, and half-truths that the War Party told the American
people and the world in the run up to the war. Hundreds of thousands of
innocent people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq have died as a result of the
lies. Tens of thousands of people have also died as a result of the NATO
aggression against Libya, as well as the war in Syria that is backed by the
United States and its allies in that region, namely, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and
Turkey, with the carnage still continuing with no end in sight.
If the lies about Iraq have taught us anything, it is that
we must pay due attention to the massive campaign of disinformation and lies
that has been waged against Iran for over three decades, in order to “justify”
a war with that nation. The campaign began with the hostage crisis after
the U.S.
Embassy in Tehran was overrun by Islamic leftist students on November
4, 1979, and is still continuing. There are still disinformation and one-sided
stories about the hostage crisis, the latest of which is the
film Argo. The biggest lie about Iran, which has been perpetuated
since at
least 1984, is that Iran is only a few months or a year or two away from a
nuclear bomb, which has
not materialized after nearly 30 years.
The campaign is separate from the secret
war that has been waged on Iran for at least a decade, consisting
of assassination of
Iran’s top nuclear scientists, killing of many innocent people by terrorist
groups, such
as the Jundallah, and waging a cyberspace war against Iran’s nuclear
facilities that even a recent NATO study recognized as
being tantamount to the use of force and illegal. The campaign of lies about
Iran is much deeper and broader than the Iraq campaign, far better organized,
and much better funded, with the funding provided by not just the American
administrations – such as $400
million provided by the GW Bush administration for destabilizing the
Iranian regime – but also the Israel
lobby and the War Party. The campaign also includes demonization of
Iran by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who haslikened
Iran to the Nazi regime, our era to 1938, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Adolf
Hitler, anoutrageous
claim that has been criticized even
in certain pro-Israel circles.
Stephen Walt has already listed top ten media
failures about Iran. Here is a list of some of the most outrageous
lies about Iran, but the list is by no means complete.
1981: One of the most brazen lies is that the U.S.
does not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs. From the CIA coup of
1953 that overthrew the democratically-elected government of Prime Minister Dr.
Mohammad Mosaddegh and installing and supporting the dictatorship of Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi for 25 years, to the aforementioned Bush budget for
destabilizing Iran, the U.S. has always tried to interfere in Iran. On January
19, 1981, Iran and the U.S. signed the Algiers Accord to
end the hostage crisis. In the Accord the U.S. promised that “it is and from now
on will be the policy of the United States not to intervene, directly or
indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran’s internal affairs,” and that it
will remove all of its sanctions against Iran. Not delivering on
legally-binding promises is by itself a terrible lie.
1984: Jane’s Defense Weekly reported that West
German intelligence believed that Iran could have a nuclear bomb within
two years. Twenty-nine years later, that bomb has not been produced.
1988: An Iranian passenger airliner carrying 290 people was
shot down over the Persian Gulf by the cruiser USS Vicennes, killing all
the passengers and crew, including 56 children. To cover up the crime, the U.S.
lied twice. It claimed that its cruiser was in the international waters, and
that the airliners had been mistaken with a jet fighter. The International
Civil Aviation Organization put the
cruiser in Iran’s territorial waters, and Admiral William J. Crowe, then
Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, also admitted
later that the cruiser was in Iran’s territorial
water. Newsweek magazine accused the U.S. of a “sea
of lies” about mistaking a passenger airliner with a fighter jet.
1996: The Khobar towers in
Saudi Arabia were bombed, killing 19 U.S. servicemen. For years the U.S.
accused Iran of sponsoring the terrorist attack. But, in
his book, The Secret History of Al-Qaeda, Abdel Bari Atwan,
editor-in-chief of the London-based Al Quds Al Arabi, detailed the
involvement of Al-Qaeda in the attack. The 9/11
Commission reported that Osama Bin Laden was seen being congratulated
on the day of the bombing. William Perry, who was Defense Secretary at that
time, said in 2007 that he
believesal-Qaeda, rather than Iran, was behind the attack, and Saudi
Arabia’s interior minister Prince Nayefabsolved Iran of
any role in the attack.
1998: In its indictment of Bin Laden, the U.S. declared that
Al-Qaeda, “forged alliances . . . with the government of Iran and its
associated terrorist group [the Lebanese] Hezbollah for the purpose of working
together against their perceived common enemies.” The allegation of a working
relation between Iran and Al-Qaeda was repeated by
Steven Emerson and the infamous Islamophobe Daniel Pipes in May 2001.
2001: There were allegations that Iran played a role in the
September 11 terrorist attacks. But, the fact is that the Sunni/Salafi Al-Qaeda
hates the Shiite Iran, and aside from rabid anti-Iran figures, such asKenneth
Timmerman and Pipes, no one believes that Iran had any role in the
terrorist attacks. Then Iranian President Mohammad Khatami was one of the first
heads of state to send a message of condolences to the American people. Even
George W. Bush and his then Acting CIA Director John McLaughlin said that,
“There was no direct connection between Iran and the attacks of September 11,”
and Western intelligence agencies believe that there is zero chance of Iran
helping Al-Qaeda to stage the terrorist attacks. In fact, in 2003 Iran offered
to exchange members of Bin Laden family, who had fled to Iran after
the U.S. attacked that nation in the fall of 2001, with the leadership of the
Mojahedin-e Khalgh (MEK), an Iranian dissident cult who were in Iraq at that time,
but the U.S. rejected the offer because the Pentagon wanted to train
and use the MEK as a pressure group against Iran.
2002: In January Israel seized a cargo ship, Karine A, and alleged
that it was carrying weapons for the Palestinian Authority with Iran’s help, an
allegation that was supported by Colin Powell, then Secretary of State. In
addition to the fact that Israel changed its history several times, there were
also many
holes in the official statements and allegations. After sometime, the
allegations faded away and were never mentioned again.
2002: George Bush made the moronic declaration about
the “axis of evil,” making Iran a charter member of the axis, of which Iran’s
archenemy Saddam Hussein and his regime were also member. The absurdity and
sheer magnitude of the lie about an alliance between Iran and Hussein’s regime
was mind boggling. It was meant to demonize Iran and Iranians.
2005: Shortly after Ahmadinejad was elected Iran’s President
in June,
it was alleged that he had taken part in the takeover of the U.S.
Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Nothing could be farther from the truth. As I
discussed elsewhere, Ahmadinejad had in fact been opposed to the takeover.
2005: In October it was claimed by the War Party and the
Israel lobby, and aided by the U.S. mainstream media, that Ahmadinejad has
threatened to “wipe Israel off the map.” This was used by the Party and Lobby
to push for military attacks on Iran. But, it was shown by many (see here and here,
for example) that it was simply a mistranslation of what he had really said. In
2011 even Dan Meridor, Israel’s minister of intelligence and atomic
energy, acknowledged
that Ahmadinejad never uttered those infamous words. But, the lie is
still repeated.
2006: In May the National Post of Canada published
an article by Amir Taheri, an exiled Iranian “journalist” who is close
to the necons, claiming that the Iranian parliament approved a law that
“envisages separate dress codes for religious minorities, Christians, Jews and
Zoroastrians, who will have to adopt distinct color schemes to make them
identifiable in public,” hence likening it to the special dress code for Jews
in the Nazi regime. The National Post even stated that Rabbi
Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles,
had said the report to be “absolutely
true,” and that Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Center had also confirmed it
(though Hier denied it later on). It turned out that the story was
a pure fabrication by Taheri, who has a long track
record of reporting fictions as facts. Even the National
Post retracted the
story and apologized for publishing it.
2006: The Rupert Murdoch-owned Sunday Times of
London alleged that Iran had tried to secretly import uranium from
Congo, similar to George W. Bush’s infamous sixteen
words, “The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently
sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa,” which turned out to be a
lie. The report turned out to be a fabrication.
2006: Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the then chairman of
the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, issued a report in August
that claimed, “Iran has conducted a clandestine uranium enrichment program for
nearly two decades in violation of its IAEA safeguards agreement, and despite
its claim to the contrary, Iran is seeking nuclear weapons,” an outrageous lie
that prompted the IAEA to send a letter to
Hoekstra, rebuking the report, calling it dishonest.
2006: The Daily Telegraph claimed
that Iran had tried to get uranium from Somalia’s Islamic forces,
another sheer fabrication.
2007: In his infamous diatribes, “The
Case for Bombing Iran,” Norman Podhoretz, the Godfather of the Israel
lobby, claimed that when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini said at one time that, “I
say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest
of the world,” he had meant Israel. This was sheer lie; the Ayatollah had never
uttered the words. It was another fabrication by
Taheri.
2007: In the same article Podhoretz also claimed that in
2001 former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani had said, “A day comes
when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession
… application of an atomic bomb would not leave anything in Israel, but the
same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world.” This was another
lie. I happened to be in Tehran, watching Rafsanjani on Iranian television when
he uttered the alleged words. What Rafsanjani said was,
“There will never be a nuclear exchange between Israel and the Islamic world,
because a day will come when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms
Israel has in possession….” In other words, Rafsanjani was saying that Israel
is wise enough not to want a nuclear war with Muslims, although even this
correct observation of his was roundly criticized by Iran’s reformists and
democratic groups.
2007: In another attempt to use Hollywood for demonizing
Iran, the film 300,
pitting Persians (Iranians) versus the Greeks, was produced, which was
criticized for its clear anti-Persian stance, and making parallels
between the ancient war and the present standoff.
2007: Senators Jon Kyle and Joseph
Lieberman tried to declare the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC)
of Iran a terrorist organization. Then Senator Chuck Hagel, the current Defense
Secretary, voted
against it, saying it is unusual – I say an absurd lie – to declare the
regular armed forces of a country a terrorist organization.
2008: The Daily Telegraph claimed that
there were “fresh signs” that Iran had renewed work on developing nuclear
weapons, which was again a fabrication. Two days later, the paper alleged that
the IAEA could not account for 50-60 tons of uranium, which was supposed to be
in Isfahan, where “Iran enriches its uranium.” Not only was the claim false,
prompting the IAEA to reject the allegations, it was
also erroneous in that there is no uranium enrichment site in Isfahan.
2009: The Times of London published a
document – later on proved to be forged – that supposedly revealed “a four-year
plan [by Iran] to test a neutron initiator [for triggering a nuclear reaction
in the bomb." On the same day, the Times’ reporter Catherine Phillips
quoted Mark
Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies,
saying brazenly, "Is this the smoking gun? That's the question people
should be asking. It looks like the smoking gun. This is smoking uranium."
2010: One of the lies about Iran, perpetuated by
successive U.S. administrations, is that the United Nations Security Council
and the “international community” – which in reality means the governments of
the U.S., Britain, France, and Germany – are “united” against Iran. In reality,
two permanent members of the Security Council, China and Russia, and a large
number of two important international organizations, namely, the Non-Aligned
Movement and the Conference of Islamic Countries do not support the unilateral
sanctions against Iran by the U.S. and its allies, nor do they support the
constant threats made against Iran. In 2010, when the U.S. began ratcheting up
it sanctions, the lie was made more frequently than ever.
2011: Another anti-Iran film, Iranium, was produced by the
same Islamophobe group that had produced the films “Obsession:
Radical Islam's War Against the West” and “The Third Jihad.”
Iranium was replete with exaggerations and half-truths, if not outright lies,
promoted military attacks on Iran, and wascriticized.
2012: Too many false
claims on Iran’s nuclear program were
reported by George Jahn of the Associated Press, and others. Steven
Erlanger, a New York Times reporter, was
caught lying about Iran’s nuclear program.
2013: There have already been many hysteric
warnings by Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) -
also known as Institute for Scary Iranian Stories - and its President David
Albright, including a recent one in the Wall
Street Journal on stopping an “undetectable Iranian [nuclear] bomb,” a
totally absurd notion that anyone with the knowledge that Iran’s uranium
enrichment program is under full inspection and monitoring of the IAEA knows is
untrue.
2013: Edward Jay Epstein wrote
in the Wall
Street Journal that Iran can buy nuclear bombs from North Korea
“overnight,” another totally absurd notion. The Israelis have also not been
silent. They now claim
that Iran can make a nuclear bomb in 4-6 months, another dire
“prediction.” This is at least “better” than the claim in the Washington
Post in 2011 that Iran could produce the bomb in 62 days.
The above list is by no means complete, but it demonstrates
clearly that the campaign of lies and exaggerations about Iran has been moving
forward with full speed for over three decades. The campaign has nothing to do with
the nature of the Iranian regime, which does violate the rights of it citizens,
though that is an internal matter for the Iranians, but has everything to do
with what General James Mattis, the U.S. Central Command commander said
recently, namely, bringing
Iran to its knees and removing
it as a regional power that can resist the hegemonic will of the U.S.
and Israel in the Middle East.
Muhammad Sahimi is Professor of Chemical
Engineering & Materials Science and the NIOC Chair in Petroleum Engineering
at the University of Southern California. In addition to his regular
contributions to antiwar.com, he is also co-founder and editor of the website
Iran News & Middle East Reports.
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