The Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) is greatly alarmed by the publication in the Observer 10.06.07 of an article "MI6 probes UK link to nuclear trade with Iran", by Mark Townsend, which propagates unfounded allegations and distortions against Iran, similar to the reports in 2003 that paved the way to the bloodbath in Iraq; nearly all of which now discredited.

The article alleges a nuclear conspiracy to transfer "weapons grade uranium" from Russia to Sudan as a "trans-shipment point." It goes on to claim, presenting no supporting evidence whatsoever, that the material was "destined" to Iran. The author further refers to Iran's "nuclear weapons programme", a claim not supported at all by the inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency which is overlooking Iran's nuclear programme under a Safeguards Agreement.

Despite admitting in the pen-ultimate paragraph that "the level of involvement, if any, of the governments in Khartoum and Tehran in the alleged nuclear plot is unclear", the paper has chosen to ignore the lack of evidence and by starting with an incriminating headline and first paragraph totally unsupported in the body of the article, it has produced yet another irresponsible journalistic work to be used by the warmongers in their attempts to soften up public opinion for an attack on Iran.

Mehrnaz Shahabi of CASMII UK said today:

"This propaganda piece follows up the article of 22nd March by Simon Tisdall splashed across the Guardian's front page entitled "Iran's secret plan for summer offensive to force US out of Iraq" in which Tisdall claimed Iran's complicity with Al-Qaeda and Sunni Arab Militias in Iraq to wage war against the coalition forces, basing his evidence almost entirely on unsupported allegations from anonymous US officials".

She added: "The totally unsubstantiated allegations in the Observer about Iran's involvement in illegal procurement of enriched uranium and its collaboration with Al-Qaeda are almost exact repetition of now discredited stories about the transfer of uranium from "Niger" for Iraq's 'nuclear weapons programme', the Iraqi regime's '45 minutes capability' to strike European cities, and its complicity with 'Al-Qaeda', all designed to prepare the public opinion for the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003".

CASMII calls for ethical journalism on news coverage about Iran and asks on all responsible journalists to condemn the Observer for such a grossly unprofessional article which can only serve to pave the way for a military intervention against Iran and a new and even more horrifying catastrophe in the Middle East.

Complaints should be directed to the Observer's readers' editor Stephen Pritchard, on +44 20 7713 4656 (Mon-Fri) or  reader@observer.co.uk

For more information please visit  http://www.campaigniran.org