Iran has banned CNN from the country for apparently mistranslating President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s remarks on Iran’s nuclear program. In a statement, CNN said:
Due to an error in translation, CNN incorrectly quoted Iranian president Mahmoud Amadinejad in his Saturday speech as saying that Iran has the right to build nuclear WEAPONS. In fact, President Amadinejad said Iran has the right to nuclear ENERGY…
It is too bad that CNN will no longer be able to report from Iran. Sure, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour (right) played along with the farcical notion that elections in Iran last June offered a meaningful choice to the Iranian people. But at least CNN could keep us abreast of the latest developments in the runoff between the corrupt hard-line cleric and the Holocaust-denying cab driver.
Nevertheless, those of us who remember former CNN chief Eason Jordan’s confession that CNN withheld information about Saddam Hussein’s atrocities in order to maintain access in Iraq might find it ironic that a tyrant has kicked CNN out of his country for accidentally reporting the truth, which is that a uranium-enriching nation sitting on a lake of oil is obviously not on a quest for atomic energy.
UPDATE: Nevermind:
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — CNN was allowed to “resume its activities” in Iran Tuesday, the country’s official news agency reported, after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked that a ban on CNN journalists be lifted and the network be allowed to continue its work there.