Iran Accuses U.S. of Psychological Warfare

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright July 1, 2010
All Rights Reserved.                                

          Accusing the U.S. of waging psychological warfare, Iran tried to undo the damage form the fourth round of Security Council sanctions for its uranium enrichment program.  Western powers have grown increasingly suspicious of the Islamic Republic after finding Sept. 25, 2009 a new secret nuclear enrichment facility in the ancient city of Qom.  Most of Iran’s known enrichment work centers on its underground facility in Natanz, where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defiantly proclaimed that Iran would continue adding more sophisticated centrifuges, despite new U.N. sanctions and warnings from the U.S. and Israel.  Calling the CIA a “fake report,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast blasted CIA Director Leon Panetta who claimed Sunday that Iran had enough low-grade fissile material for two bombs.  Mehmanparast called the claim “psychological warfare.”

            Iran insists that its nuclear program is “peaceful,” despite non-compliance with International Atomic Energy Agency inspections.  It’s refusal to submit to routine inspections raises doubts in Western powers, concerned, as Panetta points out, that Iran could have a workable A-bomb by 2012.  “Such remarks fall with the framework of psychological warfare aimed at creating a negative perception about Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities,” said Mehmanparast, refuting Panetta’s estimates of Iran’s work on a nuclear bomb.  Had Ahamdinejad not threatened to “wipe Israel off the map,” no matter how metaphorical or figurative, there would be less alarm over Iran’s nuclear program.  Ahamadinejad and supreme religious leader Ayatollah Al Khanemei insist that Iran has a right to complete the nuclear fuel cycle.  Iran, like Pakistan, believes that the bomb is the great equalizer.

            Pakistan found out May 28, 1998 that detonating a nuclear bomb kept its archenemy India at bay.  No matter how superior one’s military, the fear of mutual assured destruction restrains otherwise aggressive adversaries.  Iran knows that its supremacy around the Persian Gulf is assured with an A-bomb.  “The American officials, especially their intelligence apparatus, know that Iran’s nuclear program is in not way a military one but is aimed at peaceful purposes,” said Mehmanparast not denying Iran’s interest in building a bomb.  All the spokesman said is that Iran’s nuclear program is not military and for “peaceful purposes.”  Pakistan and India have kept their nuclear program “peaceful,” to the extent that neither country has attacked the other.  Iran wants the focus back on Israel that has an unofficial nuclear weapons program.  Iran feels entitled to its nuclear program.

            Iran blames the U.S. for distorting its nuclear intent and spreading unwarranted lies about its nuclear program.  “Those who bring up such false reports seek to deflect world public option from the main concern . . . the nuclear arsenals of several countries and a certain regime,” said Mehmanparast, indirectly referring to Israel.  U.S. authorities have given Israel, for safekeeping, a stockpile of nuclear weapons for its own defense.  What many Middle Eastern countries don’t get is that the U.S. has its own strategic interest in stockpiling nuclear weapons in the Middle East.  After Israel was attacked in 1967 and 1973, it became clear to the U.S. that it needed something more than a conventional arsenal to stave off would-be enemies.  Since 1973, Israel has encountered sporadic mini-wars and terrorist attacks.  No collective attempt to wipeout Israel State has occurred since 1973 Yom Kippur War.

            Panetta acknowledged on ABC’s “This Week” June 27 that Iran was around two years away from building a nuclear device with its stockpile of low-grade enriched uranium.  “Israel is very concerned about what’s happening in Iran,” said Panetta, putting the veiled threat of retaliation on the airwaves.  Iran has been defiant about its nuclear enrichment program since the U.N. Security Council voted in a new round of sanctions June 9.  Few arms control experts expect Iran to curtail or abandon its nuclear enrichment program anytime soon.  Iran’s nuclear program began during the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1975, under the administration of President Gerald R. Ford.  No country that’s spent the last 35 years developing its nuclear program is going to buckle under international pressure.  It’s going to take far more pressure—among other things—to get Tehran to back down.

            U.N. and U.S. officials are at their wit’s end to reason with the current leadership in Tehran.  Iran’s mullahs are 100% committed to taking the nuclear fuel cycle to its nth-degree, including building its first bomb.  It’s unrealistic to expect Iran to abandon its great national goal of going nuclear.  “This information has to be checked but such information is always worrying and all the more because the international community does not recognize the Iranian nuclear program as transparent,” said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at a G20 economic forum in Toronto.  Whether the U.N. Security Council recognizes Iran’s nuclear program or not, Ahmadinejad shows no signs of backing down.  “You will take the wish to stop Iran’s nuclear activities to the grave,” said conservative parliament speaker and former arms negotiator Ali Larijani, telling the U.S. and U.N. to jump in a lake 

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.