As long as Iran is allowed to cling to its narrative unchallenged by the West, all of the P5+1 demands can be depicted as exaggerations on the part of the bullying Western nations
Parallel to its diplomatic engagement with the P5+1 to resolve the nuclear crisis, Iran is engaged in a public campaign to persuade the media and public opinion of its narrative regarding the crisis, which in essence is a nuclear fairy tale. A dominant theme in this narrative is Iranian victimization and mistreatment by a bullying hegemonic West. The story Tehran tells repeatedly is that Iran is only trying to exercise its “legitimate rights” to a civilian nuclear program according to the terms of the NPT, yet the strong powers oppose this and continue to exert their aggressive influence on Iran, primarily through what Iran regards as “illegitimate” and “illegal” sanctions. Why illegal? Because – as the story goes – no proof has been produced that Iran is guilty of any wrongdoing in the nuclear realm.
