In the aftermath of Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel, some media asked Iranians their opinions. As is often the case in authoritarian societies, those interviewees who expressed anything that could be interpreted as critical of the Iranian regime’s actions did so without providing their full names, due to fear of reprisals.
Conversely, it’s crystal clear that commentators or interviewees representing official bodies of the Islamic Republic will toe the party line, even if that means spreading blatant propaganda on Western media. If such figures are given a platform, the media are obligated to ensure their audience understands that the person being interviewed is a representative of that government. This, of course, is also the case when Israeli government or military spokespeople appear on our screens.
Both the UK’s Sky News and Channel 4 News conducted interviews with Seyed Mohammad Marandi, who was presented as a University of Tehran professor. But there’s an enormous difference between a Western university — where freedom of speech and thought is supposed to be encouraged — and a university in a closed society, where the regime maintains control over every facet of life, including education.
If you are going to give a platform to a blatant liar, @SkyNews, at least inform your viewers that any Iranian university academic will be, at best, an apologist for the Iranian regime.
Unfortunately, @s_m_marandi is a smirking mouthpiece for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. https://t.co/BUzl8sz2to
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) April 14, 2024
So it shouldn’t have come as a surprise on Sky News when Seyed Mohammad Marandi described Iran’s attack as a “major humiliation for the Israeli regime,” smirking as he did so. He went on to claim, despite any evidence, that Iran had caused severe damage to two Israeli military bases.
When asked about Iranian nuclear capabilities, Mohammad Marandi laughably claimed:
Iran is not like the United States, which has and uses, and has already used, nuclear weapons. Iran’s peaceful program, as we’ve seen over the years, has been peaceful and there’s never been any evidence to show otherwise.
Accusing Israel of genocide, the professor said:
You and I and your colleagues know, and everyone knows, that the Israeli regime is an apartheid regime. It is an ethno-supremacist regime. It carries out ethnic cleansing, and it kills Palestinians on a regular basis, not just in Gaza, in the West Bank.
He also issued a thinly veiled threat against Israel, which he followed up on Channel 4 News with what sounded like an Iranian threat towards both the UK and US:
There’s huge danger for the people of Britain and the United States because if this war spreads, have no doubt that all American bases in the Persian Gulf region will be destroyed and those countries that host American bases will be guilty by association, and all those oil and gas installations will be destroyed by drones and missiles. So the smart thing to do is for the UK government, the US government and others to rein in their mad dog and to stop murdering children.
This Islamic Republic of Iran regime mouthpiece is being platformed on UK news channels.
He’s no independent thinking academic — he’s a propagandist for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp and @Channel4News won’t tell its viewers. https://t.co/9OenDvSr4i
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) April 14, 2024
A quick glance at Mohammad Marandi’s X (formerly known as Twitter) feed reveals the following pinned tweet where he is “proudly” standing beside the logo of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp, possibly serving as a 16-year-old child soldier of the regime:
Other “highlights” in his feed include calling Israel a “Nazi regime” and other comparisons of Israel to the Nazis – a clear breach of the internationally recognized IHRA working definition of antisemitism.
Clearly, any researcher or producer at Sky News or Channel 4 News should be able to recognize an extremist very quickly, as well as his links to the Iranian regime through his position as an adviser to the Iranian nuclear negotiations team in Vienna. That both of these mainstream broadcasters saw fit to knowingly give Mohammad Marandi a platform while passing him off as an academic should give pause for thought.
And to compound the error, both broadcasters have made sure to amplify this mouthpiece for the Iranian regime by promoting his interviews on their social media feeds.
At best, an Iranian academic in Tehran would be constrained in what he could say to Western media outlets. But Seyed Mohammad Marandi isn’t someone carefully avoiding criticism of his government. He’s both an avid supporter of the regime and an anti-Israel extremist.
And both Sky News and Channel 4 News failed to be transparent with their audiences. If they wanted to show the real face of the Iranian regime, they should have said so.
UPDATE – April 16
Seyed Mohammad Marandi has, in recent days, also appeared on other media, including the BBC and Times Radio.
On the BBC, while smirking as he lied his way through the interview, Mohammad Marandi, for example, asked what the injured 7-year-old Israeli Bedouin girl was doing at Nevatim Air Force base at the time, which he falsely claimed had been “devastated” in the attack, while also claiming an intelligence base was “badly damaged.”
The West is a full partner in the #GazaGenocide. The Western media, along with Western regimes, will be remembered as being mouthpieces and enablers of their racist and childkilling allies in Tel Aviv.
Nonetheless, Iran and the Resistance have changed the equation. pic.twitter.com/VO5f8Y0WeK
— Seyed Mohammad Marandi (@s_m_marandi) April 15, 2024
Seyed Mohammad Marandi is clearly the face and voice of the Iranian regime. And it appears he is now the “go-to guy” for British and other media.
Liked this article? Follow HonestReporting on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to see even more posts and videos debunking news bias and smears, as well as other content explaining what’s really going on in Israel and the region.
