DeSutter, appearing live on VOA's monthly Persian language TV program Negahi Faratar (Looking Ahead), said the Iranian statements at the UN "revealed again that Iran's intentions are to pursue this program at almost whatever the cost." Asked about the implications of referring Iran's case to the UN Security Council for further action, she said, "The entire idea of verification for deterrence falls apart if the (international) community can't stand up to a committed violator."
U.S. State Department spokesperson Adam Ereli, who appeared on the same program via phone, stressed that Iran's nuclear program was not about the United States versus Iran or about Iranian domestic politics. He said that "politics is not the issue here for us, the issue is international peace and security," adding it's "not strengthening the conservatives or not strengthening the conservatives" inside Iran.
Negahi Faratar is a monthly 90-minute television program that focuses on human rights and the democratic movement in Iran. The show is broadcast via satellite. VOA also broadcasts several other Persian language TV programs to Iran: Khabarha va Nazarha (News and Views), a daily one-hour television news show; Mizegerdi ba Shoma (Roundtable With You), a weekly 90-minute discussion show; and Fasle Digar (Next Chapter), a weekly 30-minute youth newsmagazine show.
VOA's television shows complement VOA Persian's daily radio broadcasts and Radio Farda, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, youth-oriented radio program that is a joint project of VOA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The VOA Persian Service Internet site is at www.VOANews.com/Persian.
The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 100 million people. Programs are produced in 44 languages.
For more information, call the Office of Public Affairs at (202) 401-7000, or E-Mail publicaffairs@voa.gov.
