In its broadcast of an exclusive interview that NBC reporter Ann Curry conducted with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, the network omitted Zarif’s rant in which he stated that the Netanyahu regime should “be annihilated” and that it “engages in the killing of innocent children” and “acts of aggression.”
The site does provide a link to the full transcript of the interview (which appears below), but for some strange reason, NBC chose to edit the vitriol out of the video.
Curry: So how does Iran want to annihilate the regime of Israel, since you’re making the difference [between Jews in Iran and Jews in Israel]?
Zarif: We don’t want to annihilate. We don’t want to —
Curry: Well, the Supreme Leader —
Zarif: — annihilate anybody.
Curry: — tweeted that —
Zarif: We have — the — well, what he says —
Curry: — it should be annihilated.
Zarif: It — it should be annihilated. That this regime is a threat, is a threat. A regime that engages in the killing of innocent children, a regime that engages in acts of aggression. Iran has not invaded any other country. We have not threatened to use force. Just exactly the opposite of Israel. Israel threatens to use force against Iran almost on a daily basis. And it has a record. Of course if they did use force against Iran, we would — defend ourselves, as we have done with — great sacrifice in the past. But we are not invading, we are not threatening anybody. We have not threatened anybody for 250 years. We have a record to prove of what we say. He doesn’t. He has a record full of infanticide, full of killing of innocent people, full of aggression against his neighbor, full of occupation. That does not give him the authority to talk about others in the way he does.
This is the Iranian regime that President Obama wants to “make peace” with. NBC News seems to be attempting to aid the administration in covering up Iran’s intentions.
In the article accompanying the interview — titled “Iran Foreign Minister: We Believe We Are ‘Very Close’ to Nuke Deal” — NBC tries to make Zarif sound like the aggrieved peacemaker:
Iran has no intention of building a nuclear weapon, and the sooner the world recognizes that, the sooner there will be a deal aimed at curbing its nuclear capabilities in exchange for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told NBC News.
“Iran is not about building nuclear weapons,” Zarif said in an exclusive interview with Ann Curry Wednesday. “We don’t want to build nuclear weapons, we don’t believe nuclear weapons bring security to anybody, certainly not to us.”
The only mention of Israel or Netanyahu in the article accuses Netanyahu of “fanning” “hysteria” against the seemingly-peaceful state sponsor of terrorism.
Good job protecting the president, NBC!
Cross-posted at The Lid
