Iran Accuses U.S. of Double Standard

Source: Kol Yisrael Radio
Media Release - June 15, 1999

[JERUSALEM] Iran is accusing the United States of hypocrisy and a double standard of justice. According to Radio Teheran, the U.S. refuses to release its own Israeli spy, Jonathan Pollard, and yet insists that Iran should release its Israeli spies.

A Kol Yisrael news report filed by senior news correspondent Mickey Gurdis on June 13, 1999 quoted Radio Teheran as pointing out that the U.S. has rejected every request for the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard - including the personal request of the Israeli Prime Minister at Wye Plantation - at the same time the U.S. is insisting that Iran release its 13 Israeli spies.

A senior Israeli official commented on the Kol Yisrael broadcast, expressing Israel's concern for the fate of the 13 Iranian Jews and a firm belief in their innocence. The Radio Teheran accusation must be seen as a wake-up call to the American administration, he cautioned, because allowing the Pollard case to go unresolved tarnishes America's reputation in the international community. As long as Jonathan Pollard continues to languish in an American prison, he said, regimes such as Iran will exploit the case to call into question the credibility of the U.S. as a defender of due process and judicial fairness . The official spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing to impact on the fate of the 13 Iranian Jews.