After the brinkmanship

by Gareth Smith February 3, 2012

written by Gareth Smith February 3, 2012

The failure of Iran and the United States to negotiate risks all out conflict. Western advocates of sanctions against Tehran argue they will pressure the Iranian people to lean on their government to abandon its nuclear program. “Intelligence sources” are claiming that covert operations can do the same. Many Iranians question this belief. Farideh Farhi of the University of Hawaii noted that the latest murder of an Iranian nuclear scientist, Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, was followed by the plastering of his picture throughout the Iranian media “with his adorable young son, both sweetly gazing at the camera.” She continued: “The picture went viral and, with it, a rather explicit message: America, Britain, and Israel… have killed a father and orphaned a son. It must have been pure fortuity for Tehran that, on the same day, a video of American marines urinating on dead Afghan bodies also took the internet by storm.” The

Gareth Smith

Gareth Smith was a distinguished journalist who reported from the Middle East for over two decades. He served as the Financial Times correspondent in Tehran, where he was the chief Iran correspondent from 2003, following his earlier role as Lebanon correspondent. Throughout his career, Smith covered Middle Eastern affairs for leading media outlets, including The Financial Times, The Guardian, and the BBC. He also contributed as an editor to Executive magazine. His work as a freelance journalist in the 1990s, focusing on the politics of Iran and Iraq, paved the way for his appointment at the FT. In 2009, he relocated to the west coast of Ireland, where he balanced freelance journalism with his passion for nature and the land.

After the brinkmanship

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