NEW YORK, NY
September 21, 2011

Producers of the award-winning documentary Iranium are launching an interactive video activism campaign supporting the people of Iran. Buy Cialis Online Pharmacy

;_ylu=X3oDMTE2OThjNjFpBHBvcwMxBHNlYwNuZXdzYXJ0Ym9keQRzbGsDZmFjZXM0ZnJlZWRv/SIG=11h441to9/EXP=1318169568/**http%3A//www.faces4freedom.com/”>Faces4Freedom enables individuals to upload messages of support to the Iranian people via YouTube and other social media. The launch of the campaign coincides with Iranian PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad’s arrival at the United Nations.

“Ahmadinejad is a tool of tyranny, and an aggravator of world peace. Yet Americans watch powerlessly as he mocks the international community,” said Alex Traiman, director of Iranium. “A genuine democratic revolution in Iran can provide relief from decades of oppression to the Iranian people, and is in the strategic interests of the free world.”

“Faces4Freedom provides an outlet to do something more meaningful than discussing Ahmadinejad’s rap sheet, by empowering thousands to support the Iranians in their quest for true democracy in Iran,” said Traiman.

Social media tools have been instrumental in communicating to the West the events that have been taking place in the Middle East. Footage uploaded to YouTube capturing the brutal murder of Neda Agha-Soltan inJune 2009 was a primary example of how social media quickly enables the spread of otherwise censored information.

“We should recognize the potential of using the same social media tools to send corresponding messages of support back to the Iranian people. We are asking Americans to show they care, and record quick videos on their phone or laptop,” added Traiman.

Visit http://www.iraniumthemovie.com/faces4freedom to learn more and upload your message of support.

Short videos of support will be uploaded to the Faces4Freedom YouTube channel,http://www.youtube.com/faces4freedom, spread on Facebook and Twitter, and broadcasted within Iran on dissident satellite channels.

Iranium is an award-winning documentary that powerfully reports on the many aspects of the threat a nuclear-armed Iran poses to America and the world. The film is a stinging indictment of the current Iranian regime and highlights revolutionary efforts within Iran to topple the government. The documentary was featured during a one-hour Hannity primetime special on Fox News.

Narrated by Academy Award nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo, the film uses rarely seen footage and interviews with 25 politicians, Iranian dissidents, and leading experts on Middle East policy, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation, including Amb. John Bolton, Senator Jon Kyl, R. James Woolsey, and Prof. Bernard Lewis. Visithttp://www.iraniumthemovie.com to learn more.

The JC.com
By Jennifer Lipman
Septe

mber 22, 2011

Filmmakers who made a documentary last year examining Iran’s nuclear ambitions are asking members of the public to join a new online campaign highlighting the oppressive nature of the Iranian regime.

The Faces4Freedom campaign has been launched to protest against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presence at this week’s UN session.

The aim is to encourage people from around the world to upload videos and messages of solidarity with the Iranian population.

They said they wanted to use social media tools, employed so effectively by Arab Spring protesters

this year, to show the Iranian people that others care about them.

“Ahmadinejad is a tool of tyranny, and an aggravator of world peace,” said Alex Traiman, the director of the 2010 film Iranium. “Genuine democratic revolution in Iran can provide relief from decades of oppression to the Iranian people, and is in the strategic interests of the United States.”

Mr Traiman’s film, which has been screened in the US, Israel and Europe, was narrated by actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, who escaped from Iran during the Islamist revolution of 1979.

The documentary brought together real footage, news reports and expert commentary to outline the nature of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime and the dangers posed by a nuclear-capable Iran.

NEW YORK, May 9, 2011 — The internationally acclaimed documentary Iranium will be featured at the San Francisco United Film Festival at the Roxie Theater onJune 25th, and at the New York City International Film Festival (NYCIFF) in Time

s Square in August.

The film has been screened in cities all across America, with 100 community screenings, and premiere events in over a dozen theaters. In April, Iranium was spotlighted at the Alabama International Film Festival and at the 44th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, where it received a Special Jury Award.

Iranium was featured in numerous multi-national media outlets including a one-hour Fox News special (tinyurl.com/iranium-hannity). Sean Hannity called the film, “a phenomenal, must-see documentary.”

Noted film critic Jeffrey Lyons labeled the film, “a comprehensive, fascinating documentary,” adding, “This is a very educational film for people who thought they knew everything about the dangers of Iran.”

Iranium was repeatedly condemned by Iran’s Foreign Ministry, as an attempt to harm “Iran’s ‘peaceful‘ nuclear activities.”

“While tyrannical dictators are being replaced throughout the Muslim world, more attention must be placed on Iran,” said Alex Traiman, director of Iranium. “Iran is among the most brutal of any regime, sponsors terror worldwide, and is now on the brink of developing nuclear weapons. We must understand the consequences of allowing Iran to continue along its current course.”

Tickets are available for the San Francisco United Film Festival showing of Iranium on June 25th, atwww.theunitedfest.com/sanfrancisco/schedule.htm.

Information on the NYCIFF, set to take place from August 11-28 in Times Square, can be found at www.nyciff.com.

Iranium powerfully reports on the many aspects of the threat a nuclear-armed Iran poses to America and the world. The film is a stinging indictment of the current Iranian regime and highlights revolutionary efforts within Iran to topple the government.

Narrated by Academy Award nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo, the film uses rarely seen footage and interviews with 25 politicians, Iranian dissidents, and leading experts on Middle East policy, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation. Visitwww.iraniumthemovie.com to learn more.

Format

Nivo Sliders

NEW YORK, May 9, 2011 — The internationally acclaimed documentary Iranium will be featured at the San Francisco United Film Festival at the Roxie Theater onJune 25th, and at the New York City International Film Festival (NYCIFF) in Times Square in August.
The film has been screened in cities all across America, with 100 community screenings, and premiere events in over a dozen theaters. In April, Iranium was spotlighted at the Alabama International Film Festival and at the 44th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, where it received a Special Jury Award.
Iranium was featured in numerous multi-national media outlets including a one-hour Fox News special (tinyurl.com/iranium-hannity). Sean Hannity called the film, “a phenomenal, must-see documentary.”
Noted film critic Jeffrey Lyons labeled the film, “a comprehensive, fascinating documentary,” adding, “This is a very educational film for people who thought they knew everything about the dangers of Iran.”
Iranium was repeatedly condemned by Iran’s Foreign Ministry, as an attempt to harm “Iran’s ‘peaceful’ nuclear activities.”
“While tyrannical dictators are being replaced throughout the Muslim world, more attention must be placed on Iran,” said Alex Traiman, director of Iranium. “Iran is among the most brutal of any regime, sponsors terror worldwide, and is now on the brink of developing nuclear weapons. We must understand the consequences of allowing Iran to continue along its current course.”
Tickets are available for the San Francisco United Film Festival showing of Iranium on June 25th, atwww.theunitedfest.com/sanfrancisco/schedule.htm.
Information on the NYCIFF, set to take place from August 11-28 in Times Square, can be found at www.nyciff.com.
Iranium powerfully reports on the many aspects of the threat a nuclear-armed Iran poses to America and the world. The film is a stinging indictment of the current Iranian regime and highlights revolutionary efforts within Iran to topple the government.
Narrated by Academy Award nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo, the film uses rarely seen footage and interviews with 25 politicians, Iranian dissidents, and leading experts on Middle East policy, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation. Visitwww.iraniumthemovie.com to learn more.
Path:

Showings are scheduled for March 28, April 2, and April 3

(Davis, CA – March 10, 2011) The internationally acclaimed documentary Iranium will be featured at the Varsity Theater in Davis, California on Monday March 28<

sup>th at 8:30 PM, and on Saturday and Sunday April 2^nd and 3^rd, at 12:00 noon.

The film has been screened in cities all across America, with 100 community screenings and premiere events in over a dozen theaters. Iranium was featured in numerous multi-national media outlets including Fox News and the BBC.

Most notably, the film was spotlighted in a one-hour Fox News special, hosted by top media personality Sean Hannity. Hannity called the film, “a phenomenal, must-see documentary.” The special can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/iranium-hannity.

Noted film critic Jeffrey Lyons labeled the film, “a comprehensive, fascinating documentary,” adding, “This is a very educational

film for people who thought they knew everything about the dangers of Iran.”

Iranium was repeatedly condemned by Spokespersons in Iran’s Foreign Ministry, and labeled an attempt to harm “Iran’s ‘peaceful’ nuclear activities.” This denunciation followed a cancellation of an Iranium screening in Canada, which came as a direct result of requests from the Iranian Embassy.

“While tyrannical dictators are being replaced throughout the Muslim world, more attention must be placed on Iran,” said Alex Traiman, director of Iranium. “Iran is among the most brutal of any regime, sponsors terror around the world, and is now on the brink of developing nuclear weapons. We must understand the consequences of allowing Iran to continue along its current course.”

The Davis Varsity Theater screenings are sponsored by PJME (David Interfaith Coalition for Peace and Justice in the Middle East) and Stand With Us. Varsity Theater is located at 616 2^nd Street, Davis. Tickets will be available for $10 at the theater. For more information visit: http://www.davisvarsity.net/pages/events.php.

In approximately 60 minutes, Iranium powerfully reports on the many aspects of the threat a nuclear-armed Iran poses to America and the world. The film is a stinging indictment of the Iranian regime and highlights revolutionary efforts within Iran to topple the government.

Narrated by Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winning Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, the film uses rarely seen footage and interviews with 25 politicians, Iranian dissidents, and leading experts on Middle East policy, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation. Visit www.iraniumthemovie.com to learn more.

Pajamas Media – -

By Alex Traiman
March 12, 2011

The acronym RPM, or revolutions per minute, typically refers to the speed in which an aut

omotive engine rotates. RPMs play a role in how much gasoline is consumed by your car. Today, that acronym may have an even more important impact on oil consumption.

Revolutions are rapidly gaining speed across the Muslim world. The world has watched Tunisia and Egypt oust their dictators in the revolutionary wave that is sweeping across the Muslim world during this unique moment or minute in history.

Libya is the latest country to take on a revolution, as oppressed citizens across three continents are beginning to recognize that they no longer need to submit themselves to the likes of brutal tyrants.

As the revolutionary process is unscripted it is neither necessary nor productive for America to remain as innocent bystanders with so much at stake.

The larger picture demonstrates that many dictatorial regimes, and especially those across the Middle East, are ready to collapse. And some of these regimes have more impact than others. Until just a few weeks ago, Egypt was seen by many as a stabilizing force in an instable region. Libya and Tunisia were less powerful players on the world stage.

Iran, on the other hand, has been a powerful force driving instability across the region.

And the regime in Tehran has worked hard to establish that position, using its petrodollars as leverage to export its ideology.

The regime in Tehran has been fighting against American interests since the siege of the U.S. embassy in 1979.

Today, Iran is directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. servicemen by training, leading, and providing weapons to insurgents within Iraq. Similarly, Iran has been labeled by the State Department as the world’s leading state-sponsor of terror for providing abundant funding to Hezbollah and Hamas, two highly radicalized terrorist organizations with international reaches.

Did I mention that Iran is rapidly trying to develop nuclear weapons, illegally?

America had the right to be fed up with this regime’s antics long ago.

Fortunately, today Iran’s citizens are fed up as well. Like other regimes in the region, such as that of Libya’s Mu’amar Gaddafi, the regime in Tehran is notorious for brutality and suppressing the rights of its people. Per capita, Iran executes more citizens annually than any other nation in the world. And let’s not even get in to the regime’s treatment of women.

Ever since the fraudulent reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009, Iranian citizens have mounted a growing opposition to the regime. And despite violent efforts to suppress the will of protestors, the Iranian people are demonstrating patience and resolve in their quest to overthrow their dictators.

And that puts the United States in a unique position. Having an effective strategy to support the Iranian people in their efforts to take their country back can accomplish several important feats at the same time.

Aiding Iran’s revolution can help free Iranians from decades of brutality, can speed up our exit strategy in Iraq, can cut off funding to international terror groups, can further protect oil interests, and can help ensure that the world’s largest Shiite nation is handed over to an Iranian opposition that is nowhere near as radical as the current leaders.

Iran’s opposition looks very different than the opposition within Egypt.

While Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak was nothing short of a militaristic dictator, he was secular, promoted a long-term stalemate with Israel, and was not radicalized in comparison with one of Egypt’s best known opposition groups, the Muslim Brotherhood.

In Iran, the regime constitutes the nation’s most extreme religious element. Many of Iran’s most respected ayatollahs are serving life sentences of house arrest (or worse) for correctly stating that the regime’s ideology is a radical and politicized deviation from traditional Shiite faith. Within Iran, it is the opposition that is predominantly secular and seeks to return a scarred Iran to its rightful place in the community of nations.

Should the regime in Iran prevail, and withstand the ongoing revolutionary wave through whatever means necessary — probably by murdering thousands of citizens — the greater Middle East and even the United States may pay a heavy price.

Iraq may fall into the cunning grip of Iran, as may Bahrain where America’s Fifth Naval Fleet currently resides. Iran would likely continue to arm and fund Hezbollah and Hamas, which could send the Middle East into regional war. Oil prices could rise to levels that make today’s prices seem like bargain shopping. And Iran would undoubtedly proceed closer towards its aspirations of becoming a nuclear power.

And Iran also has excellent relations with Egypt’s Sunni Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt’s rising opposition leader, Mohammed ElBaradei, who many mistakenly label a moderate despite his praise of the Brotherhood, worked for years to cover up Iran’s nuclear development as the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency. It has been alleged that ElBaradei was on the Iranian payroll throughout the process.

Should Egypt fall into the hands of the Brotherhood, while Iran maintains its power, the Middle East could fall further under the umbrella of Iranian influence.

The question then is: how can we help Iranian opposition forces succeed?

First and foremost is moral support. As in the other nations that are challenging their regimes in the Muslim world, the Iranian people are taking to the streets to oust their leaders. And the brave protestors who are risking their lives in their quest for freedom are looking to America and the West to see where our loyalties lie.

Our loyalties should lie with the democratic movement.

Second, we must understand the historic urgency of the moment at hand. We must support the protests now, not only because history is mandating an overthrow of dictatorial regimes. We must support the overthrow of the Iranian regime because that regime is on the cusp of acquiring nuclear weapons.

If Iran’s regime is murderous today, just wait until they have a deployable nuclear arsenal. The terror campaign we have witnessed for thirty plus years may be just the beginning — even if Iran only uses its weapons as leverage.

Just the threat of Iranian nuclear weapons alone is enough to affect the foreign policies of nations in the region and beyond.

Americans must come to the conclusion that it is 100 percent unacceptable for Iran to cross the nuclear threshold. Public opinion is not there yet, and it needs to get there quickly.

Once the urgency of the situation is recognized, citizens can demand more of the president and the Congress. President Obama was painfully silent during revolutionary street protests in Tehran in June 2009. He must not make that same mistake again.

And the funding of Iran’s regime must be cut off, completely. Powerful sanctions legislation against Iran was passed in 2010. But that legislation is not being enforced. Companies that continue to do business with Iran must be given a clear choice: to do business with Iran, or to do banking with the United States. Corporations cannot have their cake and eat it too.

The enforcement of strong sanctions can create an economic situation so difficult that Iran could no longer pay the salaries of its loyal shock troops, the Revolutionary Guards. Without the force that protects Iran’s leaders, Iranians could flock to the streets in droves to demand that their regime go packing.

An exit would be getting off easy for the supreme leader and president of Iran. After years of brutality and terror, they deserve a fate much more severe.

It is as important as ever to optimize the speed of our diplomatic engine, and help tip yet another revolution during this opportune moment in history.

Alex Traiman is the director of the documentary Iranium, focusing on the ideology guiding Iran’s leaders and the threats posed by an Iranian nuclear arsenal.

This article was originally published here.

Big Hollywood – -

By Sarah Lee

Alfred Hitchcock was reputed to have said, “In feature films the director is God; in docu

mentary films God is the director.” While this enigmatic statement can be read and interpreted several different ways, one thing’s for certain: implicit is the idea that documentary filmmaking is powerful, heady stuff. It can, and has, been used to instruct and inform and – regrettably – propagandize and confuse. Generally, it’s left up to the viewer to decide if what they’re seeing is of the first or second variety.

And so it is for a viewer who happens upon an alarming film called Iranium, a 60-minute window into the very real threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. Released by the Clarion fund and directed by Alex Traiman, the film is at once gritty, brutal, terrifying and hopeful. And most importantly, if the professional and political pedigrees of those interviewed in the film are any indication, frighteningly true.

Traiman, a journalist living in Israel and covering the Middle East, says he became fully aware of the threat of a nuclear armed Iran after attending a 4 day conference that focused on the subject in Israel in 2009. “So I started reading,” he says. “After reading ‘The Rise of Nuclear Iran’ by Dore Gold and ‘Persian Night’ by Amir Taheri, I realized that there were several components that most Westerners did not know about the threat: There is a deep ideology guiding Iran’s leaders since 1979; there is a 30 year history of killing Americans that continues today; and that Western leaders have repeatedly misread the intentions of Iran’s leaders.”

In fact, Traiman adds, Westerners have a tendency to misunderstand the true nature of the threat because we insist on filtering the events in the Middle East, from the Iranian Revolution in 1979 to the events occurring today in Egypt and Libya, through a decidedly Western value system.

“There is most certainly a huge disconnect between the nature of these oppressive regimes and how they are viewed in the West,” Traiman says. “We view events in the Muslim world, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, through a prism of values that is uniquely American. But those nations across the world have a completely different system of values that were established long before America ever became a nation.”

And so Traiman has made a film that seeks to shine a light on that value system so that Westerners can begin to understand what an armed Iran actually means to the world from both a political and ideological perspective.

Narrated by the immediately recognizable voice of the award-winning Iranian-American actress Shohreh Agdashloo, the film tells the story of an Iran that has teetered on the verge of democracy for years, only to succumb to the tyrannical and power-hungry ideology of former leader Ayatollah Khomeini. In fact, the film – supported by interviews from both sides of the American political spectrum along with heavyweights in international security policy – maintains that the current Iranian leadership is nothing more than a continuation of that same Mullah-inspired cultural mandate: to wit, hatred for the West and for her allies, most notably, of course, Israel.

While Traiman might have taken the easy way out with his film and relied only on striking images of throngs of young Iranians chanting death to America at the behest of their leadership, or the almost unthinkable ways in which Iran moves ever closer to the American Southern border and how a nuclear weapon might best be deployed (hint: Electromagnetic Pulse), he wisely chooses to also include the voice of one such Iranian who can offer first-hand experience, a gentleman who goes by the name Reza Khalili.

Khalili, who uses a pseudonym because he was once employed as a Iranian Revolutionary Guard member out of patriotism and made the painful choice to begin working for the CIA when he discovered that the promise of the 1979 Revolution was being distorted and mangled to fit a worldview that seeks to dismantle the West, offers the film a credibility it may not have had without his close observation.

Khalili’s book, “A Time to Betray: The Astonishing Double Life of a CIA Agent Inside the Revolutionary Guards of Iran” is used as training material in the Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy in the Department of Defense, and so he is recognized as someone who understands the nuances of Iran’s quest for power. He is a man quick to acknowledge his love of country and quicker to acknowledge his sadness at what has become of his homeland.

“They have chosen to betray the people,” says Khalili, echoing Traiman’s film in asserting that the only remedy for a nuclear Iran is an overthrow of the currently fragile government and some sort of new rule driven by the will of the people. “[The Iranian leadership] believe Islam [must] conquer the world – a lack of understanding of this philosophy has caused failure.”

Both Khalili and Traiman are dedicated to making sure that this failure does not become the standard. For his part, Khalili is confused by the American reaction to Iran’s repeated, thinly-veiled threats. “I am confused because this administration should realize both negotiations and sanctions have failed,” he says incredulously. Further, he remains in awe that the civilized world has refused to decry the growing relationship between Iran and North Korea. “What else do we need? What else are we looking for?”

Traiman, in making Iranium, is asking the same question and, simultaneously, offering an answer. “Once we decide that it is unacceptable to us that Iran would ever get its hands on nuclear weapons, we can demand that our policy leaders take appropriate actions,” he says. “Based on events within Iran and across the Muslim world, a new Iranian revolution appears to be a best-scenario to dealing with Iran’s nuclear threat. We can support Iran’s democratic movement in a variety of ways from financial to technical. Verbal moral support can play a major role.”

In other words, the West needs to do something we are uniquely granted the right to do: speak up.

Catch screenings of the film by visiting the website at www/iraniumthemovie.com/news/premieres/

This article was originally published here.

FrontPageMag – -

By Sara Akrami
March 9, 2011

In February 2011, the news media reported that the screening of the controversial documentary, “Ir

anium,” had been banned in Ottawa due to pressure from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Embassy. Despite all the threats, the documentary was shown in two different places — Archives Canada in Ottawa and York University in Toronto. Many citizens, including students, lined up to come and watch and formulate their own opinions.

The fact that this documentary made the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Embassy concerned is a disclosure of the true face of this brutal government’s intent to procure nuclear weapons and support. The violations of the basic human rights of the Iranian people during 31 years of the regime’s existence, meanwhile, continues to be on full tragic display. The most shocking aspect of the attempt to censor the film, however, was how it was possible that an embassy of a foreign government (Iran), which is isolated in the international arena and has the highest number of opponents among its citizens (within Iran and abroad), can exert its control over the Canadian government.

The documentary shows the inhuman treatment of the regime’s opponents by police forces, and it contains interviews of various politicians and analysts. It also shows a montage of the Islamic Republic officials’ speeches, including that of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Holocaust-denying president, who boasts that “we will not give up a single iota of our nuclear rights.” It is obvious that this regime refers to nuclear weapons as so-called “nuclear rights.”

When the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, its leader Khomeini mentioned that the United States of America must be destroyed, and referred to Israel as a cancerous tumor which must also be destroyed. These threatening statements by the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran have been continued until today under the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He has openly declared that “Israel must be wiped off the world map.”

These statements completely make clear that the Islamic Republic of Iran is seeking nuclear weapons rather than a peaceful nuclear program. It is forcing its sinister desire upon the Iranian people and it says that this is the wish of Iranians. But the fact is that Iranians have been suffering under poverty and the violations of their basic rights. The last thing that they care about is nuclear weapons because the money that belongs to Iranian families has been spent in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and other countries to support terrorist groups and Islamic extremists such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Canadian government has to understand that the Islamic Republic of Iran and its supporters in Canada are a threat to the safety of Canadian society. The embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran plays an important role in this matter. This regime and its supporters are trying to take-over Canadian laws and regulations for their own sinister desires. Additionally, since the Canadian Federal government has condemned human rights abuses of the Islamic Republic of Iran at

various times, there will be a desire by this regime to take revenge against Canada.

It was by the Islamic Republic’s trained terrorists that many Iranian opponents of this regime throughout the world, including political activists and artists, have been murdered. Dr. Shapour Bakhtiar, the prime minister of the previous regime, was one of those victims. Thus, this threat now exists in Canada for Iranian dissidents of this regime.

As Iranian-Canadian citizens and opponents of the Islamic Republic of Iran, it is very concerning for us to see the growing increase in the number of Iranian agents and supporters in Canadian society.

Sara Akrami is Founder and President of the Human Rights Activists Association at York University-Canada.

This article was originally published here.

FrontPageMag – -

Mark Tapson
February 25, 2011

Since Iran’s world-changing 1979 revolution, the Iranian mullahcracy has been at the forefront of Islamic terror aga

inst the West. Thumbing its nose at the disapproval of an impotent international community, it has proceeded full-bore to acquire the ultimate tool of terror: nuclear weapons capability. Iran’s imminent success in this regard would mean, at best, a disastrous reversal of the balance of power in the Middle East, and at worst, Iran’s promised destruction of Israel and an apocalyptic threat to the United States as well.

In the shadow of this impending menace, the Clarion Fund has released Iranium,an hour-long documentary highlighting the danger of a nuclear-armed Iranian regime. I attended a packed screening of the film in Los Angeles last month, and afterward the busy filmmakers agreed to discuss the project. Producer Raphael Shore is Clarion’s founder. Director Alex Traiman is a journalist and former radio personality covering news in the Middle East. He has also worked in marketing, and public relations.

MT: Raphael, let’s begin with the origin and mission of the Clarion Fund, the organization behind Iranium.

RS: Clarion Fund was founded in 2006 and is a non-profit organization that educates Americans about issues of national security. To that end, the Clarion Fund produces and distributes documentaries on the urgent and growing threats of radical Islam and now Iran. As well, we run the website www.radicalislam.org, which has about 50,000 members who receive our regular updates. Our advisory board includes Walid Phares, Frank Gaffney Jr., Zuhdi Jasser, Daniel Pipes, Clare Lopez, and others.

In 2006, Clarion released the award-winning documentary Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West about the global threat of radical Islam, and it was seen by about 30 million Americans. In 2008, Clarion released the well-received documentary, The Third Jihad: Radical Islam’s Vision for America, which focuses on the strategies of radical Islam in America and the risk it poses to western freedoms.

MT: Those previous films stirred quite a bit of controversy – especiallyObsession, which far Left commentators like MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann (who called it “neocon pornography”) went into overdrive to demonize and discredit. Why do you think the Left objects so vehemently to Clarion’s message, and do you anticipate that Iranium will arouse that kind of opposition?

RS: I do not believe that “the Left” “so vehemently” objects to our message; in fact, much of our support comes from Democrats. We believe that this issue, the threat of Radical Islam to America and the West, is not a partisan issue and deserves the concern from both liberals and conservatives – that is why we feature authorities from both sides in our films. The potential dangers should Iran indeed acquire nuclear weapons pose a significant threat to all of us – regardless of political views.

The heated opposition to our work comes primarily from what we might call the extreme or far left. Most opposition has come from CAIR [the Council on American-Islamic Relations] and some other so-called moderate Muslim groups. CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land trial, they have links to the terrorist group Hamas, and encourage people to not speak to the FBI and not to cooperate with the U.S. government. Such groups use the sometimes naïve media to characterize all forms of criticism as “Islamophobia”, and are obsessed with condemning, disparaging and silencing all who dare to warn of the problems with radical Islam. I expect that these groups will criticize Iranium as well, as it exposes the brutal violence and hatred employed by the radical Islamic Iranian regime to its own citizens as well as to the rest of the world.

MT: Alex, tell us about your own background, and how you came to be the director of Iranium.

AT: I’ve spent time as a journalist in the U.S. and Israel. I had heard the repeated prognostications regarding Iran’s nuclear ambitions and development timetablesalong with the rhetoric about America and Israel coming out of the mouth of [President] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

So I started to read about Iran. And I quickly realized that it is not just rhetoric. The Islamic Republic of Iran is founded upon extreme principles that are canonized in Iran’s revolutionary constitution. The constitution calls for the establishment of a universal holy government and the downfall of all others, and references Imam Khomeini’s plot against the American conspiracy.

Iran has been a leading sponsor of terror attacks through proxies since the taking of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979. Sixty-three hostages were held for 444 days. Vicious attacks occurred throughout the Middle East and even into South America at the order of Tehran. Iranian citizens have suffered worst of all. The progress they were making under the Shah [Reza Pahlavi] has turned into three decades of regression.

And when I figured all this out, I realized just how dangerous

it would actually be if the current rulers of Iran were to have nuclear weapons. Then, when I paired what Iran might be able to do with those weapons with calls for the destruction of America and Israel, I knew that the problem was gravely misunderstood.

I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to make this timely film by Raphael Shore. I felt it was the most important film he should be producing under the circumstances.

MT: What has been the Iranian government’s official response to Iranium, and can you tell us what happened with the attempt to shut down the recent Canadian premiere of the film?

AT: The Iranian government has repeatedly condemned the film by name.

In Canada, the Iranian Embassy sent requests to the Canadian government to cancel a screening that was to take place in the capital’s National Archives and Library. Those requests were followed by threats of protest and the delivery of two suspicious letters to the Archives.

The Archives did in fact cancel the event. The screening’s organizer, Fred Litwin of the Free Thinking Film Society, then contacted Canada’s Minister of Heritage and Culture James Moore. Mr. Moore took the cancellation as an opportunity to stand up for freedom of speech in Canada and demanded that the screening take place.

The Canadian government sent a diplomatic letter to the government of Iran reiterating that Canada was a country committed to freedom of speech and expression. Mr. Moore stated publicly that the regime in Tehran would not dictate what films would or would not be shown in Ottawa.

The screening took place in Canada on February 6, before a packed crowd. In response, the Iranian government called Canada “Iranophobic.” A Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Tehran lashed out on the film in later pressconferences, claiming that certain Western nations were afraid of Iran’s peaceful nuclear energy program, and would use whatever tools were available to apply public pressure on the regime.

MT: What do you think the recent uprisings in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East mean in terms of your film’s relevance and urgency?

AT: Events in the Middle East make the film as relevant as ever. If there is one regime that stands above the rest in terms of its brutality to its own citizens, and its sponsor of violent action around the world, it is Iran. And if there is one country that is particularly ripe for a revolution, in the sense that its people are completely fed up with its leadership, that country is also Iran.

The events are also creating an absolute sense of urgency. Today, with the fall of Tunisia’s Ben-Ali and Egypt’s Mubarak, there is a unique opportunity to see the regime in Tehran replaced, without utilizing the tools generally available to a superpower – namely economic and military pressure. We must seek to take full advantage of the present opportunity to support democratic elements in Iran, and assist them in their struggle against the oppressive regime in Tehran. And we must do that before that regime crosses the nuclear threshold.

MT: In the film, Frank Gaffney, Jr. of the Center for Security Policy notes that we have passed the point of discussing the “risks associated with acting, militarily, to the point where we must discuss the risks associated with not acting.” Just a few weeks ago Ahmadinejad stated, “You cannot make Iran back down an inch from its course.” What actions should we take to head off the reality of a nuclear-armed Iran?

AT: As a nation, we must make a shift in public opinion. Currently, the general feeling amongst Americans is that we hope that Iran doesn’t acquire nuclear weapons. We acknowledge that this is not a pleasant scenario. Yet, we must quickly reach the point where we find it completely 100 percent unacceptable that Iran would cross the nuclear threshold. Once we reach that point, we can seriously consider a whole range of options to deal with the threat a nuclear Iran poses to the free world.

And the film Iranium can aid greatly in this regard. It is the only tool available today that demonstrates the extreme ideology and brutal history of Iran’s leaders, and does so in their own words. It is a true eye-opener for millions ofAmericans who have thus far been unable to fully grasp the nature of the Iranian regime.

MT: What do you hope Iranium will bring to the discussion about the threat of an Iranian regime in possession of a nuclear weapon?

AT: It is to understand that the weapons themselves do not represent the depth of the danger. Rather, they are the final component of an extreme ideology that has been backed by extreme actions for three decades.

The rulers of Iran are deadly dangerous to US troops in the region, to stability in the Middle East, and especially to the Iranian population – even if they don’t have nukes. And to let Ahmadinejad, [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei and company cross the nuclear threshold could literally be catastrophic.

This article was originally published here.

The Hill – -

By Bridget Johnson
February 13, 2011

Lawmakers participated in a new fi

lm on Tehran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons intended to get the attention of the White House and Congress.

The Iranian government, which claims it is expanding its nuclear program for peaceful energy purposes, has condemned “Iranium” and successfully lobbied Canada to postpone a showing of it. The Canadian government subsequently reversed course and showed the 60-minute documentary.