Jim Sciutto, CNN’s chief national security reporter, tweeted Tuesday morning: “There is no evidence #Iran was trying to develop nuclear weapons after 2009 – #IAEA, the global nuclear watchdog, tells CNN in statement.” The Washington Post reported Monday afternoon: “Suspected Israeli strikes hit Iran-linked targets in Syria, escalating regional tensions.” CBS reports: “Mike Pompeo defends Israel over Palestinian Gaza border deaths.”
GARETH PORTER, porter.gareth50 at gmail.com, @GarethPorter
Available for a limited number of interviews, Porter is a noted independent investigative journalist and author of the book Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. He said today: “Netanyahu hasn’t just repeated old history about an alleged Iranian nuclear weapons program, as news media have suggested in their coverage of his theatrical presentation. He has revealed that the whole collection of documents (that were used by the Bush administration to indict Iran for having such an alleged covert nuclear weapons program) was fabricated by the Israelis themselves. Telling details in his presentation not only show these are the documents that surfaced in 2004 but that they were crude forgeries. I have discussed the evidence of forgery of the entire collection of documents in my book-length study Manufactured Crisis. But in an article on Netanyahu’s presentation, I will explain how he has confirmed everything that I wrote about Israel’s role in forging the documents, which up to now have represented a highly successful disinformation campaign.”
Porter’s past pieces on this issue include “Iran Nuclear ‘Alleged Studies’ Documents: The Evidence of Fraud.” Porter’s other recent pieces include “Did John Bolton Leak Intelligence to Sabotage a Trump-Kim Deal?” and “An Alternative Explanation to the Skripal Mystery.”
Also see video: “Netanyahu Wrong on Iraq, Wrong on Iran.” “If you take out Saddam’s Regime, I guarantee you, that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region. … There is no question whatsoever that Saddam is seeking and is working and is advancing towards the development of nuclear weapons — no question whatsoever,” Netanyahu said on September 12, 2002.
Also see piece by Nima Shirazi documenting Netanyahu’s long record of claiming that Iran is about to have a nuclear weapon.
Arms control specialist Joe Cirincione notes: “May I just point out that #Israel had a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program that it tried and failed to hide for years. They repeatedly and consistently lied to U.S. officials when confronted with the evidence.” U.S. officials themselves typically refuse to acknowledge Israel’s clandestine nuclear weapons program, see piece by Sam Husseini and questioning of then-congressional representative Mike Pence.
