Do Iranians Really Support Nuclear Enrichment?

A resounding NO, removed state TV survey showed

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Do Iranians Really Support Nuclear Enrichment?
by Omid Memarian
05-Jul-2012
 

Is it myth or reality that Iranians support the government’s policy of pursuing the enrichment of uranium that has brought the country severe sanctions and international isolation? In a country where the state controls all means of communications, and where anybody who challenges the state’s official narrative faces persecution, that’s not easy to find out. But citizens’ responses to a survey that appeared on the website of Iran’s state TV on Tuesday might be revealing.

Sixty-three percent of users said they favor suspending Iran's uranium enrichment in exchange for a gradual lifting of international sanctions against Iran. Those results were registered by 8:30 p.m. Tehran time Tuesday. There was no estimate for the number of respondents.

Participants were offered three possible responses when asked, “What method do you prefer vis-à-vis the unilateral sanctions imposed against Iran by the West.” Aside from the 62 percent who favored suspension of enrichment, 19 percent chose “Retaliatory action by Iran to close the Hormuz Strait,” while 18 percent chose “Resistance against the unilateral sanctions in order to maintain the nuclear rights.”

This survey was published one day after Ebrahim Agha Mohammadi, a member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, presented a bill to Parliament urging that members "block the Hormuz Strait in response to the sanctions by West." Such a measure would be a radical, highly confrontational response to sanctions. No action has yet been taken by lawmakers.
Iranians Shopping in Bazaar

A separate survey on the website of IRINN (Islamic Republic of Iran News Network) asked viewers whether they support "the Iranian Parliament's decision to close the Hormuz Strait in response to the Western oil sanctions.” It might have been surprising for Iranian officials that until 9 p.m. Tehran time Tuesday, only 11 percent of participants said they approved of the closure of the Hormuz Strait by Iran, while 89 percent said they opposed it. Hardliners are testing public opinion on the drastic move—and the online results suggest Iranians have grown weary of the saber rattling.

It is not clear how many people participated in the IRINN survey. The IRINN website is one of the most frequently visited official sites in the country, with millions of monthly visitors. Once the results were reported by a number of opposition websites, IRINN took down the survey.

"Taking the survey down from the website indicates that what the Iranian television authorities expected was different from the results,” Ali Mazrouee, a reformist former member of Parliament told The Daily Beast.

Sociologist Hossein Ghazian, who spent three years in prison in 2002 after his Ayandeh Institute conducted a joint poll with the Gallup Organization on a number of issues—the collaboration alone landed the institute in trouble—said authorities did not expect the results of this poll to be so radically different from what they usually publicize. “When the news was published in different media, they took it down,” he said.

"These surveys are not reflective of public opinion, because those who go to news websites are educated individuals who are seeking the news, and, anyway, one cannot rely on Internet polls,” Ghazian said in a telephone interview. Nevertheless, he said, the results show that the middle class is unhappy with the government’s policy—and the authorities’ quick action in removing the survey shows their concern.

He added, “But the fact that the survey was removed from the website also says something about the Iranian government's claims about their inalienable right to enrichment, and that the Iranian people demand this, and that the enrichment must be continued under any circumstances, because they need to say that the Iranian people wish for the Iranian government to continue down this path.”

"Nuclear energy is our inalienable right" is a slogan repeatedly heard in public forums and gatherings where Iran's supreme leader or president gives speeches. For the past several years, the Islamic Republic's insistence on its right to nuclear energy persists amid daily reports of increasing human-rights violations in the country and mounting pressure on the Iranian nation, limiting their choices in their private lives.

“Americans are told they have an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” Karim Sadjadpour, Iran analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Daily Beast. “Iranians are deprived freedom, but told that they have an inalienable right to enrich uranium. You can only insult your population’s intelligence for so long.”

First published in DailyBeast.com.

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Cost-of-Progress

AO, I think you're right

by Cost-of-Progress on

I suppose that is one way to address unemployment while you rob a country blind!


Anonymous Observer

Good one COP

by Anonymous Observer on

I told MA the same thing on his blog.  I think the problem is that HQ has set so many of these guys loose around the world and online that it has lost track of them.  Hence, coordination between various cells is compromised.


Cost-of-Progress

Ma'reza and CIM

by Cost-of-Progress on

baba you're on the same side. HQ will be pissed.


CIM

Problems with this news story about a "poll"

by CIM on


areyo barzan

Here is the link

by areyo barzan on

CIM

here is the link

just stop emberessing youself mate.

 

//parsdailynews.com/101927.htm

 


Mohammad Alireza

CIM you have been exposed as a fraud

by Mohammad Alireza on

Why keep up the pretence?

You have been exposed as a fraud.

You attempted to discredit a writer on another thread and you are trying to discredit this poll.

I suggest you stop commenting on Iranian.com because you will be flagged most likely, and maybe even banned --- of course that assumes the adm is paying attention.


alimostofi

An alien ideology has to

by alimostofi on

An alien ideology has to justify its unpopular existence. Emotional and empathic issues are its bread and butter. The Hezbollahis use the nuclear issue to claim legitimacy from Iranians.

On the global scale the Hezbollahis want to be taken seriously and use the nuclear discussions to appear in the world forums. They must disagree to stand out. And that is why they never follow the internationally accepted course of action.

An alternative government in exile is needed forthwith to reflect the civilized Iranian view. This can be easily organised if writers like OM wrote more about it.

@alimostofi
FB: astrologer.alimostofi


CIM

You are free to believe what you like

by CIM on


Mohammad Alireza, 

Are you sure we should notbe organized as a Feitelijke vereniging or as an Association internationale sans but lucrative?  I would hope you at least realize that you are citing to the United States Internal Revenue Code.  Are you hoping to give us tax advice?   Please remember the games played with other people on this website, and the standard talking points, do not work with us: We are well aware of these gimmicks and the individuals that employ them.  The merits of our work stands on the information we obtain - not on a tax exempt status in a particular locality.  


Roozbeh_Gilani

"There is speculation that the poll was deliberate "

by Roozbeh_Gilani on

So what? "Deliberate" or not the result of the poll clearly show what most of us know already. That is the vast majority of iranians dont give a hoot about the pathetic "undeniable right" to Nuclear energy moto. That vast majority of Iranians do not want a disasterous war with the west. That the Islamist regime is out of tune and knowingly  acting against the interests of the vast majority of Iranian people....

"Personal business must yield to collective interest."


Mohammad Alireza

Ignore CIM

by Mohammad Alireza on

WARNING: Do Not Email CIM.

Below is my comment to CIM on another thread:

To CIM:

You make comments as if you are some non-profit organization that deals with journalism and use the name Center for Independent Media in your email but it turns out all that you are is an email address!

Your dishonesty and false pretence have totally destroyed your creditability.

If you want to play Internet cop by pretending you are something beyond an email address I suggest you at least create a 501 (c) (3) non-profit, create a Web site, get proper funding from recognized organization, and use a name that is original and not stolen from some other organization.

CIM is pretending to be something he or she is not:

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Independent_...

The American Independent News Network, formerly The Center for Independent Media until January 2010,[1] is an American 501(c)(3) non-profit[2] founded in May 2006 with the stated mission of funding websites that report news from an independent, investigative perspective.


Mohammad Alireza

To CIM:

by Mohammad Alireza on

You did not answer my question.

Who are you and why are you calling yourself Center of Independent Media in your email when that organization changed its name.

What is your Web site address?


CIM

Doubt

by CIM on

A "poll" is the casting and registering of votes on an issue from a sample size that enables one to project the views of a larger population by using statistical modeling.  Of course some may have doubts about the poll that is claimed to have been conducted in this article but that nobody can see or produce a copy of (let alone test the accuracy of).  If there is a poll, the tabulation and results of the poll should exist somewhere (even if it is based on a dead link we would be able to find that data).  The only thing this article so far has produced is a story about another story concerning an alleged poll.  (i.e., Two layers of hearsay about some unverifiable event.)  There is a difference between gossip and science.  


Mohammad Alireza

To CIM:

by Mohammad Alireza on

There is speculation that the poll was deliberate and some in the inner circle are considering stopping Iran's nuclear activities.

To CIM: Who are you and what are you attempting to do? Is this you?

"The American Independent News Network, formerly The Center for Independent Media until January 2010,[1] is an American 501(c)(3) non-profit[2] founded in May 2006 with the stated mission of funding websites that report news from an independent, investigative perspective."

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Independent_...

If this is you then why are using CIM and not The American Indpenedent News Network?

It seems your objective is to distract from the issue being raised and create doubt.


Roozbeh_Gilani

....

by Roozbeh_Gilani on

 yea, right :)

"Personal business must yield to collective interest."


CIM

A poll requires a poll - not a double-hearsay story about it

by CIM on

When evidence of a poll is shown - we will hire a professional translation firm and let you know what the poll questions asked and discuss the methodology used. But so far the only figures available as to the feelings of any segment of the Iranian public are yours, the author's and the handful of people who may similarly leave a comment here - there is no poll until one can be determined to have been conducted


Roozbeh_Gilani

The most interesting aspect of this Poll.....

by Roozbeh_Gilani on

It was conducted by the Islamist regime's own State controlled TV station!

Just imagine the percentage against the "nuclear enrichment", if the poll was conducted by an independent organisation, with no fear of reprisal for not following the official regime line of lies and propaganda!

"Personal business must yield to collective interest."


CIM

Hard to believe - possible but requires facts

by CIM on

1.  Did you view the poll yourself; do you have a copy of the poll; or have you simply echoed what you have read elsewhere?   (Send us a copy or a link to the poll and we will have it professionally translated.)  If no one has a screen shot of this poll, that's something you should disclose.  

2.  It's not impossible, but it's hard to believe the claims of this article that, "Sixty-three percent of users said they favor suspending Iran's uranium enrichment in exchange for a gradual lifting of international sanctions" because most people under sanctions would reasonably be expected to desire immediate lifting (not "gradual lifting") of sanctions.

[Checked original and added the following.]

3. The problem you have in publishing the article on this site, is that because this website restricts who can join and censors based on viewpoint (i.e. a lack of content neutrality), you will get fewer comments and less representative remarks like the comments that appeared on an earlier publication of this same article.  

  • "KiaHorrible article -- made me realize this writer is completely clueless : won't be reading anything more from this un-researched journalist that just re-reports everything he hears."
  • "rico what credit for an internet poll? ZERO"
  • Hassani1387 : You just have to laugh when an author uses a half-baked online poll as evidence that Iranians don't support their nuclear program, whilst totally ignoring that multiple other polls conducted by independent Western sources found that Iranians do in fact support their nuclear program." //www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/br...

 


Azarbanoo

IRR/IRI= LIES

by Azarbanoo on

Nothing True comes from these bastard Islamists.


Fred

Making it all up

by Fred on

Does this mean all those compensated Haji nukes, lobbies and assorted gofers who for the longest time were saying Iranians overwhelmingly support the nuke business and that it has as much importance to them as the nationalization of oil were making it all up?