Persian journalist speaks of difference between English, Farsi statements on deal

Journalist Amir Taheri, a prize-winning writer who escaped Iran during the Islamic Revolution which brought the ayatollahs to power, says there are significant differences between the texts published by the US in English and Iran in Farsi following the announcement of a framework deal on Iran’s nuclear program in Lausanne, Switzerland last week.

Taheri speaks of a grammatical device in Farsi which allows statements to be phrased in a third-person non-specific, making them general and not attributed to a specific party.

He specifically cites a discrepancy between the US statement, which says the sanctions on Iran will be lifted gradually, and the Farsi text, which says they will be lifted at once upon the (still pending) signing of a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program expected to be achieved by June 30 this year.

On Thursday, immediately as the deal was announced, Taheri tweeted the following in all capital letters:

IN HIS CURRENT PRESS STATEMENT OBAMA IS LYING ABOUT ACCORD WITH IRAN. WHAT HE IS SAYING DOES NOT APPEAR IN PERSIAN TEXT PUBLISHED BY IRAN.

See the link to his clip in the tweet below:

VIDEO: Iranian Journalist Amir Taheri: 'There is no Iran Nuclear Deal' (…: https://t.co/s2wX9fi8du via @YouTube

— Amir Taheri (@AmirTaheri4) April 5, 2015