Iranian journalist speaks out against talks

An Iranian journalist who had been writing about the nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran has become a vocal critic of the talks. Amir Hossein Mottaghi has said that America's role is inappropriate.

“The U.S. negotiating team are mainly there to speak on Iran’s behalf with other members of the 5+1 countries and convince them of a deal," Mottaghi told a TV station after just defecting from the Iranian regime’s delegation while abroad for the nuclear talks.

The P 5 + 1 is made up of United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, France, plus Germany.
Amir Hossein Mottaghi, once managed public relations for Hassan Rouhani during his 2013 election campaign. Iranian news agencies claim that he quit his job at the Iran Student Correspondents Association (ISCA) and then appeared on an opposition television channel based in London to say he no longer saw any “sense” in his profession as a journalist as he could only write what he was told.

“There are a number of people attending on the Iranian side at the negotiations who are said to be journalists reporting on the negotiations,” he said on television. “But they are not journalists and their main job is to make sure that all the news fed back to Iran goes through their channels.

In his television interview, Mottaghi also sided with the western critics of the proposed nuclear deal, which has seen the White House pursue a more conciliatory line with Tehran than some of America’s European allies in the negotiating team, comprising the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany.