The Iranian nuclear challenge as reflected in the Russian media

ABSTRACT

The Middle East is one of the ‘unreliable links’ in the international security system. This became apparent once Iran began developing its nuclear program decades ago, and in recent years, the program has reinforced the challenges to international security. The steps taken by the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well as US sanctions have not yet achieved positive results. Although Russia formally supported these sanctions, its political interests and attitude to Iran differ significantly from that of the United States and its allies. Russia seeks to consolidate its position in the region, challenging American policies. This article investigates political contradictions regarding the implementation of Iran’s nuclear strategy and observes the position of the Russian print media as a source of information. Despite the active development of online news in Russia, print media continue serving as a popular information source in the country. This holds especially true for local officials, who are responsible for making government decisions, thus determining our increased interest in these forms of media. The Russian press, when covering the ‘Iranian nuclear issue,’ do not serve as unbiased sources of information, but suggest propaganda influence, albeit flavored with thorough knowledge of the political situation.

KEYWORDS:

• Iran’s nuclear program
• military security
• economic sanctions
• Russian-Iranian relations
• media
• propaganda

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Dmitry Strovsky has a PhD in political science. For over twenty-five years, he worked as a teacher and then professor in Ural Federal University’s faculty of journalism. He has authored and edited books and overone hundred articles on the historical and contemporary evolution of Russian mass media and the relationship between politics and media in the country, in both Russian and English. His articles have been published in journals worldwide. Professor Strovsky has lectured as a visiting scholar at universities in the United States, Finland, Sweden, China, Mongolia, and other countries. Currently he is a media researcher at Ariel University in Israel.

Ron Schleifer has a PhD from the University of Leeds, is a senior lecturer at Ariel University in Israel and founded the Ariel Research Center for Defense and Communications. He specializes in the joint disciplines of communications, information warfare, propaganda, and the Middle East, and has published several articles on these topics. He is the author of Psychological Warfare in the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).