Top Iranian Official Admits Tehran Misled Foreign Officials About Nuclear Program

[bananas]

Source: CBS

A top Iranian official says they have misled the West about the Islamic country’s nuclear ambitions.

According to The Times of Israel, Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, Iran’s vice president and the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said in an interview that they gave foreign officials misleading facts in order to keep secret the technological advances made at nuclear sites.

“Sometimes we pretended to be weaker than we really were, and sometimes we showed strength that was not really in our hands,” Abbasi-Davani said, according to the Israeli paper. “We had no choice.”

He added in the interview with Al Hayat: “We sometimes (gave) false information to protect our nuclear sites and our earnings.”

<snip>

Read more: http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/09/20/top-iranian-official-admits-tehran-mislead-foreign-officials-about-nuclear-program/

[bananas]

1. You just can't trust the nuclear industry. nt

[bemildred]

2. Another stunning revelation.

[KansDem]

3. So what? I know of a top American official who did the same thing...

[MADem]

4. What? Iran? Misleading? Why I never! Who would have ever suspected?

He added in the interview with Al Hayat: “We sometimes (gave) false information to protect our nuclear sites and our earnings.”


Yes, of course, the sun rises in the east as well...now tell us something that isn't news...

[no_hypocrisy]

5. So did Iraq and the lying gave cover for this country to attack and conquer it.

[cstanleytech]

6. The government of Iraq didnt lie so much as it just made it difficult for the inspectors to carry

out the inspections in a timely manner.
Now if we are discussing lying then that would be the intel presented about the yellowcake uranium, that was a lie and then some.

[leftynyc]

7. So, in other words

The Israeli's were right.

[L0oniX]

8. "According to The Times of Israel" ...that's all I need to know.

[Alamuti Lotus]

9. Yeah, I basically tuned out after that line too..

[Ash_F]

10. CBS quoting and Israeli paper quoting an Arabic paper

Journalism today

For those who are interested
Here is the Times of Israel article:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-admits-it-deceived-the-west-over-nuclear-program/

But the Arabic paper Al-Hayat(who supposedly conducted the interview) doesn't have it up yet. I guess it would pop up on this list, if ever:
http://english.daralhayat.com/

[bananas]

11. It's behind a paywall and it's in Arabic

which is why you don't see it in the non-paywall English section.
There's an article about the interview here: http://alhayat.com/Details/436798
That links to the paywalled interview here: http://alhayat.com/KMS/Article/Edit/436689

[MinM]

12. Fareydoun Abbasi-Davani sounds like he's afraid of getting 'blowed-up'

... again.

Fareydoun Abbasi-Davani's damaged car Photo: AP

Inside a secret bomb-proof building in a Tel Aviv suburb, which Google Earth does not include on its website, some of the occupants last week exchanged high-fives at their work stations. According to insiders, several sent each other the same message: The Chief’s Last Hit...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/8182126/Mossad-was-this-the-chiefs-last-hit.html

Iran: “We Lied!” — not really

By Cyrus Safdari | Iran Affairs | September 21, 2012

Naturally, the New York Times seized on this — the story that an official in charge of Iran’s nuclear program, Fereydoon Abbasi, has “admitted” that Iran occasionally tried to mislead on its nuclear program:

Iran’s top atomic energy official said in an article published Thursday that because of foreign espionage, his government had sometimes provided false information to protect its nuclear program.

Note the crucial bit of missing information here, left out by the NY Times in order to spin this sentence as some sort of “confession” by Iran of having hidden nukes: WHO WHOM? TO WHOM has he said Iran provided false information – to the IAEA or to Western spies?

Because that’s a real crucial bit of difference! Needless to explain: There’s generally no obligation on a country to allow foreign spying, especially when its scientists are being assassinated. However the NY Time’s simply runs with the assumption that this official is saying “We lied to the IAEA because we’re making nukes” rather than “We tried to mislead foreign intelligence agencies so they would not assassinate us”. Go back and read it again, better yet read the original Arabian news report. Or translate it. You won’t see him saying “We lied TO THE IAEA because we’re hiding nukes” Instead, he’s referring to foreign intelligence agencies. But that’s not how the NY Times spins it...