Iranian Media
React to N. Korean Nuclear Test
By Behrouz Saba
The
eyes of world news media quickly turned to Iran
following North Korea's claim that it detonated
a nuclear device, probing the Islamic state's reaction
to the apparent atomic test. Some Western media
claimed the Iranian government and media reacted
with approval, but a closer look reveals a diversity
of responses.
"State-run Iranian
television has gone into huge detail about the achievements
of the North Koreans, producing maps and diagrams,"
the BBC announced in a world roundup about the test.
"The tone is clearly congratulatory and there's
considerable excitement."
No Iranian official
has condemned North Korea for the test. But the
Iranian government, as reported by the Islamic Republic
News Agency (IRNA), did not hesitate to express
its outrage at the BBC report, instructing its London
embassy to sharply protest the news agency's "congratulatory"
characterization and repeating Iran's declared opposition
to nuclear weapons.
Welcome to the new
version of MAD -- Mutually Assured Denunciations
-- as the Iranian government, its media and people
react to the North Korean developments at a time
when Iran itself is under international pressure
to curtail its own uranium enrichment program as
a possible prelude to becoming the world's next
nuclear power.
Representatives of
six major powers who have engaged Iran in long and
largely fruitless negotiations about its nuclear
program have once again raised the possibility of
UN sanctions against Iran. Yet their threats sound
more hollow than ever, since the Security Council
finds itself with precious little means to punish
North Korea for its far more brazen act.
Iran's spiritual leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, didn't miss a beat to capitalize
on what he clearly perceives as a stronger Iranian
position in the wake of the North Korean test. Meeting
with the country's military leaders on Tuesday,
as quoted by IRNA, he commented about Iran's enrichment
activities, "If we hadn't experimented in that
way, today we would be admonishing ourselves for
not having done so. Yet now we move ahead with confidence
and complete control, and no one can present an
acceptable reason why the country's nuclear direction
is wrong."
Jomhuri Islami (Islamic
Republic), a staunchly pro-cleric daily, quoted
a government spokesman as saying, "The Islamic
Republic has repeatedly expressed its opposition
to the proliferation of nuclear weapons." It
continued to quote indirectly the spokesman, who
said that oppressive powers such as America should
start nuclear disarmament at home, and that in the
Middle East, disarmament should begin with the Zionist
regime (as Israel is often called by Iranian rulers).
The daily Entekhab
(Election), an independent, moderate newspaper that
has survived a recent spate of governmental bans
on similar publications, provided a more objective,
yet pointed, information. "America, which for
the first time detonated its nuclear bombs over
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945, comes
in first among the nuclear club's members with 1,032
tests. Russia with 715 tests is in the second position
and France comes in third with 210 tests."
Jamejam, a progressive
online Iranian daily, quoted French Foreign Ministry
spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei, who said, "The
nuclear files of Iran and North Korea are two separate
items and these two countries are different from
each other...One says it wants a non-military nuclear
program and the other is after military use...The
two files should be examined separately."
Yet the BBC -- which
Iranians tend to blame for many of their woes, including
the Islamic revolution, and which just announced
plans to launch a Farsi television service by 2008
-- still managed to reflect the range of opinions
among ordinary Iranians about the North Korean test
by offering scores of comments e-mailed to its Farsi
Web site.
"I don't think
it's America's or any other country's business what
North Korea is doing. If America gives itself the
permission to interfere in the affairs of other
countries, then other countries have the right to
interfere in its affairs," wrote Mehdi from
Tehran.
Morteza wrote from
Dizul near the Iraqi border, "Unfortunately
whatever is the result of the test, it will ostensibly
harm all countries and people."
From neighboring Afghanistan,
Seyyed Morteza Aman saw the United States as a kind
of hypocritical father figure. "This is just
like a father who eagerly and with great pleasure
smokes in the house in front of his young son,"
Aman wrote, "but tells him that this is not
the right thing to do and he should never try it
and should he do so, he will be severely punished."
–New America Media
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