Iran Talking Points

The US government and media lied about Iraq, now they're lying about Iran. This fact sheet dispels some of the myths about Iran.

Apr 21, 2012 - Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor admits Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was misquoted and never said Israel should be 'wiped off the map' (read).

Feb 24, 2012 - Iran is not building nuclear weapons, according to U.S. intelligence (read).

Feb. 7, 2012 - Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran's nuclear scientists, U.S. officials tell NBC News (read)

THE U.S. IS THREATENING IRAN, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND
The U.S. has Iran surrounded. To the west of Iran is U.S.-occupied Iraq… To the east is U.S.-occupied Afghanistan… The U.S. has either a presence or influence in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the southwest of Iran, Pakistan to the southeast, and Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to the north... and nuclear-armed U.S. ally Israel is nearby… Iran surrounded

The U.S. has two aircraft carriers in the gulf as a “reminder” to Iran (read)… The US is funding terror groups in Iran to sow chaos (read)… The CIA is conducting "black-ops" inside Iran (read), and in Dec. 2011, Iran shot down a CIA drone that was in Iranian airspace (read).

The U.S. government and media are trying to convince people that Iran is a threat, but the obvious truth is that the U.S is the antagonist. Keep in mind that we were lied to about Iraq. It's happening again with Iran.

In January, 2012, CIA Director David Petraeus said that Iran is not building nuclear weapons (read).

U.S. SUPPORT OF THE MEK
It is widely known that the U.S. is supporting the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), a quasi-cult that is on the State Department's terrorist watch list, and believed to be behind the current chaos in Iran (Read: "US funds terror groups to sow chaos in Iran" and "Iran finds US-backed MKO fingermarks in riots").

And, in the summer of 2011, "a roster of influential former US officials is speaking at rallies in support of removing the MEK, an Iranian opposition group with a violent anti-American history, from the US terrorist list." (read).

The US also supports Jundullah, a Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran which has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005 (read). The National Endowment for Democracy and Voices of America have a long history of fomenting unrest in other countries in their attempt to destabilize governments, and now appear to be at it again (read). The USA Today reported that "U.S. grants support Iranian dissidents" - The Obama administration is moving forward with plans to fund groups that support Iranian dissidents... continuing a program that became controversial when it was expanded by President Bush. And former Pakistani Army General Mirza Aslam Beig claimed the CIA has distributed 400 million dollars inside Iran to evoke a revolution (read).

ARAB PUBLIC OPINION OF IRAN
Diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks seem to indicate that leaders of various Arab nations view Iran as a threat. But that's not true of the people of Arab nations. According to The Brookings Institution 2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll, an overwhelming majority believe that Iran has the right to develop nuclear weapons and should not be pressured by the international community to curtail its program. Even more telling, a majority of those polled say that if Iran were to acquire nuclear weapons, the outcome would be positive for the Middle East. When asked which nations pose a threat to them, 88% identified Israel and 77% said the United States; only 10% identified Iran (read).

HOW CAN THE U.S. THREATEN WAR AGAINST A COUNTRY FOR POSSIBLY PURSUING SOMETHING THE U.S. ALREADY HAS?
The U.S. has 10,000 nuclear weapons. U.S.-allies Israel, Pakistan, India and Britain also have nukes. What gives the U.S. the right to threaten military action against Iran if they want to develop a nuke? St. Pete for Peace believes all countries should be nuclear-free, but until the U.S. and its allies get rid of their nuclear weapons, they have no right to tell their perceived enemies that they may be attacked if they appear to be thinking about building the bomb.

But all evidence indicates Iran is not developing nuclear weapons: "New IAEA Head: No Evidence Iran Seeking Nuclear Weapons" (read). Additionally, a December 2007 U.S. National Intelligence report said that Iran stopped nuclear weapons work in 2003 (read). The CIA (read) and the UN Nuclear watchdog (read) have said there's no evidence Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Yet the politicians say Iran is developing nukes.

WHICH COUNTRY HAS A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE?
Name one country that Iran has attacked since 1776? The U.S., on the other hand has been involved in endless and illegal wars of aggression since its inception (read).

IRANIAN PRESIDENT AHMADINEJAD
Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did NOT say Israel should be 'wiped off the map.' What he said is "... this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time" (read). Also, Ahmadinejad recently stated that he does NOT deny the Holocaust, contrary to mainstream reports (read). And finally, unlike in the United States, the president of Iran has very little power and certainly does not have the ability to declare war against another country.

WHAT ABOUT THE U.S. HOSTAGES TAKEN BY IRAN
That was in response to the U.S. demolition of Iran’s democracy when the CIA overthrew Iranian president Mossadeqh in 1953 (read). After the U.S. reinserted the shah, thousands of innocent Iranians were killed with U.S. support. Following the hostage situation, the U.S. supported Saddam Hussein's chemical war against Iran in the 1980's in which hundreds of thousands of Iranians died (read). Additionally, the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian passenger jet that it had 'mistaken' for a hostile Iranian fighter aircraft, killing all 290 people on board (read).

IRAN 2009 ELECTIONS
Isn't it ironic that U.S. media and politicians are cheering on the protesters and condemning Iran for cracking down on demonstrators, yet here in the U.S. peaceful protesters are regularly harassed, arrested, tear gassed, pepper sprayed, shot at with rubber bullets and tasered? (Read: How the US Defense Department policy equates protesting to "low level terrorism"). Where was the outrage when the U.S.-supported president of Peru cracked down on protests which resulted in at least 34 people being killed by Peruvian police? And key U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and Egypt do not allow dissent.

Regarding the largely unsubstantiated claims of a rigged election in Iran... can we honestly say elections are not rigged in the U.S. when we see boxes of uncounted ballots tossed in garbage bins and voting machines malfunctioning in heavy minority districts? Just like the false (and hypocritical) claims of Iran pursuing a nuclear weapon, this is just another attempt to demonize Iran in order to gain public support for more aggressive action against a country that originally had it's democracy crushed by the CIA in 1953.

For more, read: "Iran Falls to US PSYOPS" and "The Stolen Elections Hoax".