NY Times lies about Iran's nuclear program - the pattern continues

In the latest NY Times article about Iran (which is wrongly applauded by some bloggers) the authors write that Iran's failure to reject the latest nuclear "incentive offer" is itself proof of Iran's perfidy as anonymous "Western officials fear":

"Tehran did not formally reject the offer, meaning that it may be able, as Western officials fear, to play for time, saying that it is in an ongoing dialogue with the West while continuing to enrich uranium to secure the amounts necessary to build a nuclear bomb."

This continues a pattern of false and deceptive reporting about Iran's nuclear program. A noted media scholar and co-author of a famous book on the coverage of Iran by the Western press, in a recent private email discussion with me, speculated that the reason for this pattern of coverage by the NY Times is:

Mainstream journalism almost always goes with the "safe," officially approved version...  Sources such as you (and me, for that matter) don't register on the Times' richter scale.  We are considered ideologues, despite the fact that time and again the historical record shows that our doubts and criticisms were on the mark.

Well, allow me to at least quote from an "insider" source widely referenced in the mainstream media such as the NY Times when convenient: Even according to ISIS,

"LEU [low-enriched uranium] cannot be used to make nuclear explosives; HEU [highly-enriched uranium] can be used to make nuclear explosives"

And, according to every last IAEA report, including paragraph 5 of the latest (May 28 2008) IAEA report, Iran's centrifuges manufacture LEU, not HEU, as verified by surprise inspections:

The results of the environmental samples taken at FEP [Fuel Enrichment Plant] and PFEP [Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant] indicate that the plants have been operated as declared. The samples showed low enriched uranium (with up to 4.0% U-235), natural uranium and depleted uranium (down to 0.4% U-235) particles. Iran declared enrichment levels in FEP of up to 4.7% U-235. Since March 2007, fourteen unannounced inspections have been conducted.

So, unless the NY Times really thinks that Iran is "playing for time" so as to change the laws of physics, no amount of accumulated enriched uranium by Iran can in fact be used to "build a bomb" as the NY Times claims.

At this point I think it is legitimate to ask: Can this sort of sloppiness, which would otherwise be intolerable if the story did not involve Iran, be attributed to anything other than a malicious and deliberate intent to deceive?

Comments

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Excellent commentary, Cyrus. Time and again I have said that what NY Times considers fit to print, is nothing but propaganda serving its elite masters. The US media may pretend that they are honest and not biased, but that is an absolute lie. Please remember the Iraq WMD fabrication of lies by the elite media. Iran has to proceed with her peaceful nuclear program, otherwise one day she will deeply regret. She should not succumb to daily harassments of the West and its press. Iranians should stand firm and resolute. I am convinced they will succeed as they victoriously did in their fight for nationalization of their oil. Thanks for your hard work.