Posted on 06/03/2015 12:58:16 PM PDT by maggief
A top State Department spokeswoman took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to blast the “main contentions” of a New York Times story on Iran, firing a slew of tweets at reporter David Sanger.
Marie Harf, State's senior adviser for strategic communications, took issue with a Tuesday report from Sanger and William Broad showing Iran's nuclear stockpile increased about 20 percent amid negotiations between Iran, the U.S. and several other countries.
In five follow-up tweets directed at Sanger, Harf took issue with parts of the report that said “Western officials and experts cannot quite figure out why” Iran's stockpile had risen.
Harf maintained that fluctuating levels in Iran's stockpile of nuclear fuel were permissible under a joint plan of action with Iran and didn't go against previous statements that its nuclear program was “frozen.”
The tweets did not mention Broad, the Times story's co-author, who shares a pair of Pulitzer prizes and is also on Twitter.
Their Times article cited a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations body charged with monitoring nuclear programs that noted that Iran had stopped producing certain types of highly enriched uranium since January 2014.
However, the Times report noted that Iran would have to reduce its stockpile by more than 9 tons within months, if it agreed to a deal. An April framework said Iran would reduce its nuclear stockpile to 300 kilograms, or about 660 pounds.
Officials hope to secure a deal by June 30.
During a daily press briefing Tuesday, Harf described the report as “manufacturing a controversy,” saying officials at the State Department were “perplexed” by its characterizations.
David Sanger @SangerNYT 20h20 hours ago
For those at State Dept. "perplexed" by story on Iran today, it's worth reading this study: http://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-reports/documents/Irans_35_stocks_of_LEU_June_2015_Final.pdf … https://twitter.com/joshrogin/status/605810657888321537 …
Marie HarfVerified account @marieharf
.@SangerNYT You can tweet all the ISIS reports you want - doesn't change the fact that main contentions in your story were wrong.
catfight!
what is a state dept spokesperson doing getting into a catfight on twitter? I’m so embarrassed for our country. and what does “fluctuate” mean. i can’ believe I’m saying this but i hope the French kill this deal.
The Slimes must be so proud Marie Harf reads their bird cage liner.
Twiddle Dee is pissed off Twiddle Dum spouts some words.
This is how far the WH staff has been reduced in mentality. The world is laughing at us
Marie ought shut up, resign, and go back to managing the library in whatever weird lefty Eastern town she comes from.
“Harfed UP” some more stupidity ... Baghdad Bob seems like a genius compared to those two twits.
There is something about government officials taking to twitter to confront someone which is childish and cowardly.
Careful, that Harf ditz is one day going to be secretary of state.
Note to reporter - don’t be drivin’ no Mercedes.
Then she'd get a coveted "participation award" for being on the team.
Obama has now successfully proven that we could have a grapefruit as secretary of state in his administration, and it would matter not.
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