Gone fission

by Gareth Smith January 1, 2008

written by Gareth Smith January 1, 2008

For anyone who knows the strange relationship between the Great Satan and the Axis of Evil, the most stunning aspect of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) concerning Iran’s nuclear program was its notion of anyone in Tehran making rational calculations. Where once there were “mad mullahs”, all of a sudden there was an Iranian state pursuing national self-interest. The shift was so sharp it provoked speculation the US might be heading towards an understanding with Iran that could help stabilize the wider region. In Tehran, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad decided the NIE was a vindication, presumably because of the uncertainty it betrayed in US policies. Oddly, Ahmadinejad was thereby expressing faith in the competence of the CIA and its cohorts, whose record in the region is abysmal. Think of its mismanagement of the Iraq operation based in Kurdistan in 1992. Think also of the 1984 kidnapping and death in captivity of

iran

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.

Gone fission

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