Media In Iran Slam Raisi For Evading Crucial Issues In Televised Talk

Media in Iran have criticized President Ebrahim Raisi for evading significant questions during his recent televised, including on the issue of nuclear talks.

The much-advertised interview broadcast by Channel One of the state-run television in a prime time slot had nothing new and concrete to offer, critics of the hardline president say. They allege that the interview was held in a highly controlled “green-house environment”, questions were dictated by the interviewee, and it was a “monologue” and propaganda event rather than a real, challenging interview.

“Green-house interviews may shield the President from the harms of exposure to the media sun, rain, and wind. But this makes him equally vulnerable as he may catch a cold even if a small media breeze suddenly gets through a window!” Reformist Etemad daily wrote Tuesday.

The conservative Jomhouri Eslami newspaper also warned that officials of the Islamic Republic will never be able to convince the public as long as they avoid interviews with free and independent journalists.

The hardliner media affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard and ruling circles have stayed mostly silent about the TV program.

Many have also pointed out that the interviewer repeatedly sang praises of the Raisi administration and its “achievements” while posing his questions. “Niceties [by the presenter] were so exaggerated that it appeared as if an employee is paying lip service to his employer,” conservative Asr-e Iran website charged in a commentary Monday entitled “This Is Not an Interview, It’s a PR Talk Between Boss and Civil Servant”.

The presenter only asked about the nuclear talks in Vienna towards the end of the one-hour talk, to which Raisi gave a very general and short answer.

He avoided referring to the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and only talked about the importance of “lifting of sanctions”, a matter of great importance to the Iranian economy, which nevertheless needs an agreement with the United States.

Source: Iran International

Also Read: Raisi, Khamenei Come Under Fire For Economic Crisis, Brain Drain

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