While occasionally reading the outright lies and canards poured by the Western mass media on the common reader, one cannot help wondering what kind of dementia one must possess in order to renounce their conscience or professional journalist’s duty just to make an extra buck. There are many examples of this phenomenon.
The other day, many Western media, television, newspapers and magazines of various sorts and ideology literally choked with indignation about Iran: in the international waters of the Persian Gulf, along the well-known oil routes, “the spiteful Iranians, acting in a pirate fashion, detained and took an oil tanker away to their water area.” “International abuse of power”, “Pirates of the Persian Gulf”, “Iran threatens world waterways”, “Ayatollahs undermine world oil trade and threaten the West,” – these are just some of the headings of the “free” Western press. If the ayatollahs interfere with the international oil trade waterways today, then what are they going to do if they get nuclear weapons one of these days? “The West, you are standing on the verge of apocalypse,” was the shared message conveyed by these Western media.
Now, let us deal with facts, rather than canards. Was the oil tanker indeed detained? – Yes, it was. In the official statement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), it was stated that a foreign tanker was seized on July 14 by the Iranian warships patrolling the first sea zone in the Persian Gulf while conducting an operation on investigating and combating organised oil smuggling. The patrol vessels Naval Forces of the IRGC, having found evidence that the foreign vessel engaged in fuel smuggling, detained it. According to the official statement, the foreign tanker was seized in the southern part of Larak (a small island in the Persian Gulf), after the court warrant had been granted. This vessel was going to deliver the smuggled goods to another foreign tanker that was expecting it in a region farther away. The Iranian press and diplomats returned the favour and asked their Western “partners” a rather reasonable question: “Do you support illicit oil trade and intend to encourage it?”
After the publication of this message, when the lies and objectives of the Western provocative propagandist campaign became obvious to everybody, the media that took part in it became instantly silent about “the Iranian pirates,” as though following an order. Of course, nobody thought they must apologise or publish a refutation, and, most likely, the Western journalists are generally unable to do that. Throwing mud, confusing the issue, criticising everyone and everything are part of the motto of these “independent journalists.” Furthermore, they are well and regularly paid for these “feats.” And money, as we know, has no smell as far as these gentlemen are concerned.
It is remarkable that, shortly before this incident, the western “masters of quill” shouted at the top of their voices around the world about the hijacking of another tanker which had been taken to an Iranian port. The Associated Press agency indignantly stated that a small oil tanker from the UAE to the Strait of Hormuz had entered the Iranian waters and lost communication. The leading American media did not waste any time and proceeded to wail that Iran had violently seized the Riah vessel sailing under the Panamanian flag against a backdrop of increased tension in the region and her seamen had been imprisoned.
But the Iranian authorities provided a clear explanation on this incident as well. The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that help had been provided for the tanker that had stopped in the waters of the Persian Gulf due to a technical malfunction. According to the foreign office representative Abbas Mousavi, the tanker had been taken on the tow and brought to an Iranian port in order to provide assistance in accordance with the international standards, after the vessel had sent a distress signal.
This is the reality, as opposed to the hundreds of canards penned by journalists for money. Do you really think they actually write about the real situation in Iran, about its hard battle against the cruel, inhuman embargo imposed on the country by American democracy in order to smother the Iranian people with hunger and cold? – It would suffice to open such newspapers as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times or The Washington Post, and one would in no time come across articles where the journalists, in their aspiration to carry out the objective of creating a wave of social discontent among Iranians with the policy of their authorities, enjoy painting a picture of how difficult life is for the Iranians whose only fault is that they want to live in freedom in their own country under their traditional laws and customs instead of having a well-known kind of democracy forced on them from across the ocean by the new crusaders. Such articles give colourful images of the rial exchange rate going down, the termination of supply of the necessary drugs, medications and spare parts for machinery. Special attention is paid to the decline in oil and gas export, the main source of foreign currency for the IRI, which is so needed in these hard times. When one observes all this wild celebration in the Western media, one cannot help remembering the genius philosopher O. Spengler and his provident book, The Decline of the West. Perhaps, we can already see the decline of the whole West and its notorious neoliberal values, that is, if there still remain any.
However, despite the spiteful rhetoric of today’s US political élite, the Iranians widely and freely celebrated the 80th anniversary of the ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei, the Iranian religious and state official, the second Supreme Leader of Iran since 1989 till present, the president of Iran (1981 — 1989), one of the closest associates of the Leader of Islamic revolution ayatollah R. Khomeini. He is currently the main political figure in Iran. However, he is not a dictator giving orders to his subjects, but rather, the Supreme arbitrator who rules the state, listening to the most diverse and occasionally contradicting opinions. Today, he is reasonably considered the main symbol of the US-Iranian standoff. At the same time, it was he who gave green light to the Tehran – Washington dialogue on the nuclear program that led to the agreement, which, however, was broken off afterwards by the Donald Trump Administration.
At the same time, Ali Khamenei is not afraid of the US sanctions. He repeatedly stated that Iran was not going to wage war against any state, but will protect its beloved land at the cost of its life. And the present Washington Administration must understand it. Ancient philosophers had a good reason for saying that everything flows, everything changes. And nowadays, the US is not the only country that defines the global situation. The unipolar world ceased to exist, and new powers entered the stage with peace, respect of all other peoples and their right for free and quiet development and prosperity as their top priorities.
Viktor Mikhin, corresponding member of RANS, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
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