Who Has the Last Word in Ahmadinejad's NBC Interview?

The Iranian presidents’ custom of interviews with American television networks started with President Khatami’s first year of presidency in 1997. He was the first Iranian president to sit in front of the CNN camera live with Christiane Amanpour and answer questions.

Among President Khatami’s achievements in the first two years of presidency, this interview was repeatedly referred to due to the fact that he had mentioned that the interference by the U.S. Iran’s 1953 coup as one of the main reasons for the lack of diplomatic relations between Tehran and Washington. In response, Madeleine Albright, the U.S. foreign minister at the time, officially apologized to the Iranian nation and her symbolic reaction has since been viewed as the possible start in diplomatic relations between the two countries. Khatami also took part in a live interview with the same interviewer on CNN during his trip to New York for the U.N. General Assembly meeting, but, that time, the procedure and process of his reformist projects were moving so quickly that his statements on reconciliation and negotiations with the U.S. nation has not, since, been clearly recalled.

Following this path, Mahmood Ahmadinejad, has taken part in two interviews on popular American television networks. Ahmadinejad is an amusing subject and this causes the advertisements broadcast during the interview’s commercial breaks to be priced higher. Many people from around the world watch him repeatedly. The irony in his words and the fact that he answers all questions in such a special way brings out the curiosity and eagerness in people to analyze the only president since World War II who propounded the “Israel must be vanished from the face of the planet” slogan.

Christiane Amanpour and Parisa Khosravi tried their best to get at least a five minute interview with him during his trip to New York for the U.N. General Assembly meeting two years ago for the same reason. While Ahmadinejad, according to recommendations, had canceled the interview with CNN, he finally welcomed the network’s reporter into the hotel he was staying at.

Apart from CNN, BCC also had a meeting with Ahmadinejad two years ago on the famous “60 minutes” television show. An interview in which, because the host’s, Mike Wallace, lack of dominance and grip, ended in Ahmadinejad’s utter prominence. The interview, more than catching the critic’s interest in Ahmadinejad’s old and repeated words and speech, raised a critical perspective on Wallace’s impotence and insufficiency.

However, now, in a time in which Iran is being taped in the middle of one of its most tumultuous and also most complicated diplomatic issues, and is considered one of the most critical periods in Iran’s contemporary political history, NBC set up an interview and discussed some issues with Ahmadinejad. This interview happened while Iran spends its last days of the West’s ultimatum on the suspension of the uranium program.

His interview with Brian Williams, whose slogan suggests that good reporting is equal to bad public relations, was broadcast on Monday during which time Ahmadinejad encountered some very detailed and specific questions. The interviewer, with complete dominancy, dragged Ahmadinejad to his usual defensive position of asking the asked questions. This procedure was taken to a place where it seemed as if Ahmadinejad was interviewing Williams by asking questions about U.S. foreign policies since World War II. Ahmadinejad’s speech, as always, was filled with old repeated slogans, unspecific and undiplomatic answers and it was hard to find a solid opinion on Iran’s policy towards the West’s ultimatum from his words. As the president, he himself quotes, ”In Iran, everyone has their own approach,” so we must wait and see whose approach and position is the most prominent.