Mehr News and PressTV are now reporting that no deal was reached during the Geneva talks regarding Iran shipping its domestically low-enriched uranium stock to Russia for further refinement.
Press TV reports today that Iran's Supreme National Security Council said the assumption that such an agreement had been reached with the P5+1 (permanent members of Security Council plus Germany) during the Geneva talks was untrue. The Council's Media Secretary Peyman Jebelli made the announcement in an interview with Press TV.
Earlier, on Oct. 2nd, Mehr News reported that a member of the Iranian delegation who attended the Geneva talks on Thursday said no agreement was made on delivering Iran’s 5 percent enriched uranium to one of the 5+1 countries and receiving 20 percent enriched uranium.
Mehr further reported that the negotiator, who spoke to the Mehr News Agency on condition of anonymity, said no consensus was made about inspection of the Fordoo nuclear project near Qom in two weeks.
Both news agencies are reporting that the issue of supplying Iran with medium-enriched uranium and the inspection date for the Qom enrichment site will be topics of discussion at a meeting between the IAEA and Iran on Oct. 18. They also state that this was prearranged before Iran's meeting with the P5+1 group in Geneva, Switzerland.
Analysis:
The Iranians may be emphasizing the fact that nothing was actually finalized at the Geneva Talks 2 Forum. The medium-enrichment proposal in Russia may be something put on the table that the Iranian negotiators agreed to pursue "in principle".
However, the declarations in Iran's news media may also signal that the Iranian decision makers have now had a chance to study the contents of the Geneva talks, and based upon this have drawn up more calculated positions on the issue of MEU and the Qom inspection schedule.
It probably hasn't helped any that Western government and media sources are openly depicting the medium-enrichment proposal in Russia as the means of purposely withdrawing Iran's LEU stock, in order to deny it the supposed ability of producing a nuclear weapon. This gives the impression of a "hostage-like" situation in the making, which could serve to undermine Iran's position in nuclear discussions, as well as set back its civilian nuclear program. Likewise, the Qom nuclear site inspection is also being depicted as a P5+1 "demand", when in reality it involves the IAEA and Iran exclusively. The Iranians appear sensitive to such depictions, which more often than not have the effect of influencing their positions on diplomacy.
--MARK PYRUZ
Showing posts with label PressTV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PressTV. Show all posts
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Thursday, July 5, 2007
The Press Under Attack
Iran’s daily Ham-Mihan was banned and the news agency ILNA shut down its operation.
Ham-Mihan, managed by Tehran’s former mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi, received permission to publish only a few months ago. It produced 42 editions before being banned.
In its last issue, Ham-Mihan ran a story under the headline, “The Energy Minister Can Ration Electricity.” The piece touched raw nerves of the Iranian officials, especially Ahmadinejad’s, who referred to it in his remarks during his tour of Asaluyeh petrochemical facilities along with the Venezuelan president last week.
In an accompanying supplement, Ham-Mihan also ran a piece criticizing Ayatollah Jannati, the head of ultra-conservative Guardian Council.
ILNA, the Iranian Labor News Agency, shut down its operations even after its founding director, Masoud Haydari, resigned to save the agency. ILNA had won praise for its professional reporting on labor issues and labor protests in Iran.
The government had increasingly put pressure on ILNA to tone down its reports. The day before its closure, Aftab Yazd had reported that “the board of directors of this non-governmental news agency has agreed to the resignation of ILNA’s managing director in order to reduce the existing pressures” (Aftab Yazd, 2 July).
Farhang-e Ashti website reported on 3 July that, “the president and the ministers of labor and social affairs and culture and Islamic guidance are among the most important critics of the news agency [ILNA] which had been exerting immense pressure on them.”
Iran analyst expect that the next target of Ahmadinejad’s government would be Etemad-e Melli, a reformist paper founded by former Majlis speaker Mehdi Karrubi.
Ham-Mihan, managed by Tehran’s former mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi, received permission to publish only a few months ago. It produced 42 editions before being banned.
In its last issue, Ham-Mihan ran a story under the headline, “The Energy Minister Can Ration Electricity.” The piece touched raw nerves of the Iranian officials, especially Ahmadinejad’s, who referred to it in his remarks during his tour of Asaluyeh petrochemical facilities along with the Venezuelan president last week.
In an accompanying supplement, Ham-Mihan also ran a piece criticizing Ayatollah Jannati, the head of ultra-conservative Guardian Council.
ILNA, the Iranian Labor News Agency, shut down its operations even after its founding director, Masoud Haydari, resigned to save the agency. ILNA had won praise for its professional reporting on labor issues and labor protests in Iran.
The government had increasingly put pressure on ILNA to tone down its reports. The day before its closure, Aftab Yazd had reported that “the board of directors of this non-governmental news agency has agreed to the resignation of ILNA’s managing director in order to reduce the existing pressures” (Aftab Yazd, 2 July).
Farhang-e Ashti website reported on 3 July that, “the president and the ministers of labor and social affairs and culture and Islamic guidance are among the most important critics of the news agency [ILNA] which had been exerting immense pressure on them.”
Iran analyst expect that the next target of Ahmadinejad’s government would be Etemad-e Melli, a reformist paper founded by former Majlis speaker Mehdi Karrubi.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Iran Launches English-Language TV News
Iran’s new English-language TV news channel, Press TV, went on air today. This is the newest entry in the increasingly crowded field of English-language international news channels.
Press TV’s website has been running for a few months at http://www.presstv.com/. The new channel has a staff of over 400 and 26 international correspondents in different countries. The 24-hour schedule includes news every 30 minutes and three daily and live 55-minute programs.
The impact of Press TV in the US will be very limited. The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera English launched its own Washington broadcasting center but US cable operators refused to carry it and its US audience has since been limited to a relatively few expatriates who own satellite dishes and choose to watch their homeland news in English.
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), which owns and operates Press TV, also runs a 24-hour Arabic-language news channel, Al-Alam (The World). Al-Alam’s news and programming center is based in Beirut and many of its staff are Lebanese. Al-Alam competes with Pan-Arab satellite news channels Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya.
Press TV’s website has been running for a few months at http://www.presstv.com/. The new channel has a staff of over 400 and 26 international correspondents in different countries. The 24-hour schedule includes news every 30 minutes and three daily and live 55-minute programs.
The impact of Press TV in the US will be very limited. The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera English launched its own Washington broadcasting center but US cable operators refused to carry it and its US audience has since been limited to a relatively few expatriates who own satellite dishes and choose to watch their homeland news in English.
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), which owns and operates Press TV, also runs a 24-hour Arabic-language news channel, Al-Alam (The World). Al-Alam’s news and programming center is based in Beirut and many of its staff are Lebanese. Al-Alam competes with Pan-Arab satellite news channels Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya.
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