Iran Special: Sanctions, "Analysis", and the Never-Ending Circle of Propaganda --- From NIAC to Neo-Cons

Most of what passes in the US press and circles of influence as "analysis" of Iran is actually political posturing, trying to put forward self-interested opinion as the Truth.

This is a story of how that "analysis", caught up in a false "either-or" of Iran --- it is either menacing, or it is oppressed by the "West"; it is either pursuing a Bomb, or it has no such intention; there will be regime change or a dominant regime which will never be changed --- leads us,  again and again, to political dead-ends.

This is the story of the 32-page report that Trita Parsi and Reza Marashi of the National Iranian American Council, working with economist Bijan Khajehpour, put out this week, "Never Give Up, Never Give In".

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Iran Video: Journalist Fathi, Congressman Ellison on Human Rights

Nazila Fathi and Keith Ellison speak at this week's conference, hosted by the National Iranian American Council, on human rights in Iran.

Fathi was the correspondent for The New York Times in Tehran but was forced to leave soon after the 2009 Presidential election. Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, is the first Muslim to be elected to the US Congress.

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Iran Live Stream: "Answering the Iranian People's Call for Human Rights"

The Live Stream of the conference has finished. We will post the archived video as soon as it is available.

The National Iranian American Council in Washington is hosting a one-day conference, "Answering the Iranian People's Call for Human Rights". The morning session, beginnng 8:45 a.m. local time (1345 GMT), will feature addresses by Suzanne Nossel, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations; Jonas Hafström, Sweden's Ambassador to the United States; Representative Keith Ellison; and Nazila Fathi, the New York Times correspondent in Tehran who was forced to leave soon after the June 2009 Presidential election.

In the afternoon, there will be a panel discussion on "The Human Rights Crisis and Iran’s Democracy Movement" with academic and author Nader Hashemi, analyst Alireza Nader, and Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa Director of Human Rights Watch.

The Live Stream will began at 1345 GMT.