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Iran media slams domestic critics of nuclear program

Domestic critics of Iran's nuclear program have been chastised in a number of conservative Iranian media outlets.

TEHRAN, IRAN:  Iranian reformist MP Ahmad Shirzad objects to the disqualifying of a large number of reformists from the upcoming legislative elections after their resignation in the parliament in Tehran, 01 February 2004. The head of Iran's main reformist party Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), and brother of the president Mohammad Reza Khatami warned powerful conservatives today not to force the holding of parliament elections on February 20, saying such a step would be tantamount to a "coup d'etat"
Iranian reformist parliamentarian Ahmad Shirzad objects to the disqualification of a large number of Reformists from the upcoming legislative elections after their resignation in the Iranian Parliament, Tehran, Feb. 1, 2004. — BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images

Last week, the University of Tehran hosted a conference in which a panel of prominent professors and former officials expressed unprecedented public criticism of Iran’s nuclear program. The panelists drew parallels between the devastating costs of the Iran-Iraq war and those of Iran’s nuclear program and questioned its usefulness and achievements. The meeting made headlines even in the Western media for the panelists' audacity in questioning what the top leadership of the Islamic Republic considers a national security issue.

As expected, criticism of the panelists — Sadeg Zibakalam, Ahmad Shirzad and Davoud Hermidas-Bavand — was swift and harsh.

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