Iran Videos: A Wasted Interview --- Judiciary's Larijani on Sakineh, Nukes, & Israel

In the American tour of Mohammad Javad Larijani, the high-level official Iran's judiciary, this is a fine example of how not to conduct an interview.

CNN's Fareed Zakaria, with the nominal "head of the human rights section" before him, reduces all the human rights issues in Iran to one case --- that of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman condemned to death for adultery and then complicity in the death of her husband. Unsurprisingly, Larijani is ready for this headline example and knocks back Zakaria's portrayal of the cruelty of stoning. 

And with that, Zakaria leaves human rights --- and the 1000s of other cases that could have been noted --- behind. He does cause the Iranian official some discomfort over "democracy", as Larijani's declaration that 2009 was "a great election" unravels.

But then it is on to several minutes of standard rhetoric over Iran's nuclear programme --- Larijani asserting that Tehran does not want nuclear weapons and it is the US standing in the way of a settlement --- and Israel. The interview spirals downward to Zakaria's "So when will you stop chanting 'Death to America'?"