Iran Claims It is the Victim in Nuclear Showdown
Iran has chosen to play the victim role in its nuclear showdown by citing the cases of five nuclear scientists that were killed.
Iran has been facing international sanctions over its nuclear programs, but from their view, they have been under attack from covert hit squads for the last two years. They say they are victims and not aggressors, after a handful of nuclear scientists have been killed, according to the Associated Press.
They blame the deaths of their scientists on the Israeli Mossad spy agency.
Analyst for Gulf Research center in Geneva, Mustafa Alani, said that Iran's message to its people is that they are under siege, according to MSNBC.
"This shows up everywhere in Iran's policies and statements," Alani said.
The propaganda was on display in Iran this week when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke on national television with the photos of the five slain scientists. A photo was also on display, depicting Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, holding the son of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan.
Roshan was a senior director of Iran's main uranium enrichment facility and was killed earlier this year by a car bomb in Tehran.
Israel has not directly denied nor claimed responsibility for the attacks, but suggests that plots against Iran are possible, according to MSNBC.
The U.S. has urged their allies to allow for time for sanctions against Iran's nuclear program to pressure Iran, rather explore military options on their nuclear sites.
According to Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, intelligence shows that Iran continues to enrich uranium but Tehran has not yet developed a nuclear weapon. Panetta added that the U.S. is willing to negotiate a diplomatic solution with Iran, but will also exercise all options to ensure that Tehran does not acquire a nuclear weapon.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced yesterday that Iran's ministry of intelligence and security has been added to a list of specially designated global terrorists. The strategic step freezes assets they may have in U.S. jurisdictions, bans Americans from doing business with it and halts ministry employees from traveling to the United States.
