Arash Aramesh

The Iranian government has become one of the main beneficiaries of the aftermath of Israel’s attack on an aide flotilla that took place on May 31.

The International Atomic Energy Agency released its report on Iran’s nuclear activities June 1 and expressed concern over the installation of new equipment at Iranian nuclear facilities that, thanks to the event of the aide convoy, has received almost no attention in the Western media. According to the IAEA report, Iran has intensified its program of producing 20 percent enriched uranium. The report indicates that Iran has not been fully cooperative in proving the civilian nature of its nuclear program. The Islamic Republic has insisted that its program is for peaceful purposes alone and Iran has no ambitions to produce nuclear weapons.

The Iranian media, especially pro-government sources, have dedicated their resources to cover the events surrounding the flotilla incident. Everything else, including the important report on Iran’s nuclear activities released by the IAEA has been almost entirely ignored.

Fars news, a semi official news agency with intimate ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, dedicated fourteen of its sixteen homepage stories to the flotilla incident. Kayhan, a hardliner newspaper with ties to the Supreme Leader, dedicated its front page and its editorial to the convoy incident while ignoring the important IAEA report concerning Iran’s nuclear activities.

IRNA, the Islamic Republic’s News Agency, ignored the IAEA report and instead published an interview with a lesser-known Iranian diplomat claiming the recent report “indicates IAEA’s full supervision of Iran’s enrichment activities.” This Iranian diplomat also said that the IAEA has found Iran to be in full cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.

Meanwhile, the Iranian government has dedicated all its broadcasting resources to air the message of Iran’s Supreme Leader on every television and radio news program in Iran.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a statement June 1 condemning Israel’s actions of attacking an aide convoy headed for the Gaza Strip killing at least ten people. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter to the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan expressing his deepest condolences for the loss of life on the aide flotilla.

Leaders of the opposition in Iran, including Mir Hossein Moussavi and former President Mohammad Khatami, also condemned Israel’s actions. Moussavi said Israel’s actions were “in violation of international laws and human rights.” Leaders of the opposition have long been ignored by the state-owned media in Iran and their statements today were not reflected on Iran’s broadcasting networks.

Israel’s use of force while boarding humanitarian aide ships headed for Gaza has served the interests of Israel’s chief regional foe. This incident has undoubtedly fueled the flames of anti-Israeli sentiments in the region and has brought Turkey, an old ally of the US and Israel, even closer to the Islamic Republic of Iran. For Iran, it is extremely important to continue the media war against Israel, for it has a vested interest in seeing the continuation of international condemnation of Israel.