Fars news agency and sedition

Propaganda and mobilization are part of the media work. A problem arises, however, when propaganda is exposed or loses its credibility. A few days ago, Hujjatul Islam Mujtaba Ashjari said that the United States had caved in and come to terms with Iran’s right to enrich uranium. Additionally, the deputy head of the energy committee in the Iranian Parliament Nassir Sodani confirmed that America had changed its language. He claimed that the US favored banning nuclear weapons for all countries. Implicit in this claim was American disapproval of Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons. He also stressed that the language of threats would not work with Iran. These statements were to be followed by Kazim Sadiqi saying that the arrogant world powers should show a good will gesture and lift sanctions during the upcoming Baghdad meeting.
During his last tour of the city of Bandar Abbas, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was surprised when a girl approached him saying “your excellency, we are starving.” A video of this event was aired by the British Daily Mail. Protesters were seen surrounding the president’s car in the video. An old man hit the car using his hand and said, “I am a retired hungry man.” The president asked the girl to get in the car while the old man was taken away by the security to an unknown place.
A few days ago, the security apparatuses were on alert after the laborers declared their intention to carry out a huge strike. The security apparatuses established checkpoints in major cities. These demonstrations came about because of the price increase in the aftermath of the economic sanctions that hit Iran. Different figures show that almost all of the workers in Iran live below poverty line, which is about 1,300 toman.
Strikingly, Iran is in a war with the outside world and has great, unachievable ambitions. Tehran has been wasting its wealth and resources to obtain nuclear weapons. Iran, however, has failed to understand that impoverishing its people is a time bomb. The national liberation movement in Balochistan is trying to get independence. So are the Arab political forces in Arabstan. The lack of respect for other ethnicities within Iran and the systematic marginalization and exclusion of these ethnicities will lead to an unexpected confrontation within Iran.
In 1975, Iraq has some $60 billion reserve. It was achieving genuine development at all levels. And yet, the illusion of power and the lust for gaining nuclear weapons were the straws that broke the camel’s back. Iraq mistakenly thought that obtaining nuclear weapons would make Iraq invincible and stable. However, Iran, which was running away from domestic problems and under the cloak of exporting revolution, had to fight Iraq. Today, Iran believes that obtaining nuclear weapons will make it an influential actor in the regional and international arenas. But, take Israel for instance.
Tel Aviv owns some 200 nuclear bombs, yet it cannot leave the American umbrella. This grim reality begs a number of questions as to whether a nuclear bomb would benefit Iran and whether the Iranian people will keep silent while its leadership says that Iran managed to prevail over America by getting a nuclear weapon. Therefore, there is no need for reform calls as the leadership is successful. Perhaps, Iran needs to see how some countries dismantle their nuclear reactors and maybe Iranian leadership would be better off if it looked at the consequences of Chernobyl.
The contrasting example to oil-rich Iran is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has followed a rational and quiet foreign policy. It never fell in the trap of the Iranian mobilization to use energy as a weapon. Riyadh refused the demands put on it by the Iranian president as irresponsible. As part of its reactive policy, Iran resorted to blackmailing India when it insisted on demanding $5 billion in cash in exchange for oil. India should not have been dealing with it in such a way.
We have accurate information about Iran’s meddling in Egypt and other Arab countries. We know that some cells belonging to Hezbollah have tried to carry out attempts on the lives of some Egyptian personalities thus striking a lethal blow to the national unity of Egypt. Additionally, Iran supported some Sufi forces, funded newspapers, established research centers and tried to play on the friction between Egypt and Algeria.
Today, Iran is trying to drive a wedge between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Iran’s Fars news agency has joined this effort. It misquoted Prince Saud Al-Faisal, claiming that he said that Saudi Arabia would return the Egyptian lawyer as a dead body! Ironically, an Iranian representative Mujtaba Amani tried to appear as if he defends Egypt by saying that the Egyptian people cannot be threatened in such a way even if all ambassadors were to pull out!
We already said that propaganda can be uncivilized if it is based on utter lies. It will only backfire. Saddam Hussein has set a bad example in false propaganda. He bragged about owning the fourth largest army on earth, the long-range missiles, the ability to strike Israel with obsolete Russian missiles and vowed to burn half of Israel. And yet, unfounded propaganda hurt only him.
After the end of the Iraq-Iran war, Iraq should have put an end to the one party system or the single president, and should have established a pluralist democracy. Nevertheless, Iraq resorted to more militarization of the state. Iraq feared change and feared the domestic rejection of the official policy. Now, will Iran learn when people turn their backs on their leadership despite nuclear weapons?
All we wish to see is that Iran goes back to its political and religious senses and to create a ray of hope for the Iranian people. We already know that there is a wealth of great Iranian intellectuals, thinkers and literary men. Unfortunately, all we hear these days are about war, threats, challenges and fighting with the whole wide world. So we wonder whether the current Iran is the one that we read about, or the one that is known for its wisdom?

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