AFP: The US-based news channel CNN has been banned from working in Iran for having quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying his country is seeking nuclear weapons, a government official told AFP Monday. TEHRAN, Jan 16, 2006 (AFP) – The US-based news channel CNN has been banned from working in Iran for having quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying his country is seeking nuclear weapons, a government official told AFP Monday.
During CNN’s live translation of a press conference by Ahmadinejad Saturday, the president was quoted as saying that “we believe all nations are allowed to have nuclear weapons” and that the West should not “deprive us to have nuclear weapons”.
The president was, however, using a Farsi word that meant “technology” and not “weapons”.
“Taking into account CNN’s actions contrary to professional ethics in the past years and their distortion of the president’s comments during his press conference on Saturday, the activities of the CNN journalist in Tehran will end and no journalists from CNN will be authorised to come to Iran,” a statement from the Iranian culture ministry said.
