Iranium

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|

2011 American film

Iranium

Iranium Film Poster

Directed by| Alex Traiman
Written by| Clarion Fund
Alex Traiman
Produced by| Raphael Shore
Narrated by| Shohreh Aghdashloo
Edited by| Micah Smith
Distributed by| Clarion Fund

Release date

* February 8, 2011 (2011-02-08)

Running time

| 60 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English

Iranium is a 2011 documentary film by director Alex Traiman, Written and Distributed by Clarion Fund.

The film discusses Iranian foreign policy and Iran – United States relations, including the Iran hostage crisis and the 1979 Iranian Revolution and takeover by Ayatollah Khomeini.[1]

The film premiered at select AMC theaters and community centers throughout the United States on February 8.[2] The film has been criticized for misrepresenting and falsifying information in order to create a sense of urgency in the viewing public.[3][4]

## Selected contributors

[edit]

Notable contributors in the film include:[5]

* Shelley Berkley – Democratic Member of the United States House of Representatives from Nevada
* Jon Kyl – United States Senator from Arizona [R]. Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security
* Eliot Engel – Democratic U.S. Representative from the 17th Congressional district in New York. Member of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee.
* R. James Woolsey, Jr. – Former Director of Central Intelligence
* Clifford May – American journalist and President of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
* Amir-Abbas Fakhravar \- Iranian American writer, Student leader and former political prisoner. Research fellow and Visiting Lecturer at the Institute of World Politics
* Clare Lopez – A former Senior CIA Clandestine Operations Officer with tours in Africa, Central/South America and the Balkans, with a focus on the USSR/Russia.[6]
* Frank Gaffney – American anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist[7] and the founder and president of the Center for Security Policy.
* John Bolton – Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations
* Dore Gold – President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations
* Bernard Lewis – Professor Emeritus at Princeton University, one of America's foremost experts on the Middle East, and author of over 30 books on the Middle East and Islam.
* Ken Timmerman – American journalist, and the founder of the Foundation for Democracy in Iraq.
* Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff—Retired U.S. Navy Chaplain, offering eye-witness account of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing

## Controversy

[edit]

On February 8, 2011, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, denounced the film during a press conference in Tehran, calling it "...an attempt by Western countries to harm the progress of Iran's nuclear program."[8][9] A January 18, 2011 screening of the film was then canceled by the Library and Archives of Canada (LAC), after the agency received further protests from the Iranian government, phone calls, and letters.[10] The Iranian embassy had previously submitted a letter to the LAC, conveying their wish that the documentary not be shown due to concerns regarding the depiction of Iran's nuclear program and its perceived aims. The next day, Heritage Minister James Moore ordered that the film be shown and the screening was reinstated, scheduled to take place in February.[11] According to Minister Moore, "The Iranian Embassy will not dictate to the Government of Canada which films will or will not be shown in Canada."[12]

The film was subsequently shown in Ottawa on February 6 at the Library and Archives Canada, the same venue that canceled a showing of the film earlier after complaints by the Iranian Embassy.[13] Following the affair at the LAC, film reviewer Jay Stone of the Vancouver Sun wrote: "It would be tempting to dismiss as a right-wing fantasy if only someone hadn't gone to such steps to keep it from being shown."[14]

## Criticism

[edit]

In an opinion piece for the Tehran Bureau on the PBS Frontline website, journalists Eli Clifton and Ali Gharib questioned the film's accuracy. The authors claim that "most of the analysts interviewed in the film are drawn from two neoconservative Washington think tanks...", the Center for Security Policy and Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The authors of the article claim that "Iran's leaders, despite a willingness to sacrifice citizens, have demonstrated that they are concerned primarily with themselves. Iran's use of a nuclear weapon would almost certainly imperil the regime's survival" and "while the film's justification for military action appears to hinge on Israel's willingness to launch a unilateral attack, recent comments from former Mossad chief Meir Dagan pushing back the Iranian nuclear clock may pose a challenge to the sense of urgency expressed by Clarion's experts and the narrative of imminent conflict crafted by the film's producers."[3] Similarly, the Iranian Student Alliance in America (ISAA) at the University of California, Berkeley condemned the film, saying that "Iranium falsifies, exaggerates and overtly generalizes reality to manipulate the public’s emotions. Through such actions, the makers of Iranium instill fear within their viewers to justify their war agenda. Worst of all, they ruthlessly use the sacrifices of the people of Iran to push for a war that will target the same people."[4]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "About the Film". Archived from the original on 2011-01-23. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
2. ^ "IRANIUM Premieres at AMC Theaters, February 8". PR Newswire. Archived from the original on 2012-10-13. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
3. ^ a b Elie Clifton; Ali Gharib (26 January 2011). "'Iranium' or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the 'Military Option'". PBS. Archived from the original on 2017-05-31. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
4. ^ a b "ISAA's Statement on Iranium". 16 February 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
5. ^ "Interviews". Iranium the movie. Archived from the original on 2012-11-18. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
6. ^ "Claire Lopez". Patriot Symposiums. Archived from the original on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
7. ^ "4 Conspiracy Theories Promoted by Frank Gaffney, Ted Cruz's New Adviser". Haaretz. 18 March 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-08-17. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
"Frank Gaffney Jr". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on 2015-09-08. Retrieved 2015-09-28.
Carden, James. "The Iran Deal Opponents Are Going to Fight to the Bitter End". The Nation. No. 11 September 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-09-29. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
Woodruff, Betsy (15 March 2015). "Glenn Beck Thinks Grover Norquist Is a Muslim Brotherhood Mole. Now, the NRA Is "Investigating."". Slate. Archived from the original on 2015-09-26. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
"Bachmann, Gaffney, and the GOP's Anti-Muslim Culture of Conspiracy". The Daily Beast. 23 July 2012. Archived from the original on 2015-07-11. Retrieved 2015-07-27.
8. ^ Laura Payton (8 February 2011). "Iranium film angers Iran". Toronto Sun. Archived from the original on 2011-02-11. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
9. ^ Jim Quilty (5 February 2011). "In Iran, justice is fluid". Variety. Archived from the original on 2011-02-09. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
10. ^ Edmund DeMarche (19 January 2011). "Despite Threats, Canada to Show Movie About Iran". FoxNews. Archived from the original on 2011-01-21. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
11. ^ Sarah Boesveld (20 January 2011). "Minister orders film on Iran be shown". National Post. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
12. ^ Edmund DeMarche (19 January 2011). "Despite Threats, Canada to Show Movie About Iran". Fox News. Archived from the original on 2011-01-23. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
13. ^ Ottawa Citizen (22 January 2011). "Film on nuclear Iran to show on Feb. 6: Questions about cancellation of screening still unanswered". Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on 31 January 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
14. ^ Jay Stone (1 February 2011). "'Iranium — the movie Mahmoud Ahmadinejad doesn't want you to see'". The Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 2011-02-05. Retrieved 9 February 2011.

## External links

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* Iranium at IMDb
* Full movie review from Minnesota magazine TC Jewfolk
* Fox News special report about the movie on YouTube by Sean Hannity