Dating back to the 1979 Iranian revolution that lifted Ayatollah Khomeini to power and boldly challenged President Jimmy Carter, the US-Iranian relationship has been strained, to say the least. Now, in order to stress the reality of Iranian conflict with nuclear weapons, director Alex Traiman has developed a chilling and inspired documentary titled “Iranium”, which debuts in select American theatres on February 8^, 2011.

Traiman, an Iranian-American, said he made the documentary to sound an alarm to the outside world about a nuclear Iranian government, and, conversely,  make aware the efforts made by the Iranian people for a safe, nuclear free country. Sponsored by The Heritage Foundation, the February 1^st pre-screening included opening remarks by James Phillips, Senior Director of Research for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Foundation, and The Honorable Richard Perle of the American Enterprise Institute.

Iran may be the subject of taboo for some, but Traiman refuses to stay behind a politically correct line in the film, adamantly defending his people and their fight for cultural and political survival. Because of failed diplomacy and action over the last thirty years with Iran, Traiman’s grim picture of the world’s future with an Iranian nation with nuclear capability is very real.

In interviews with former and current U.S. Representatives, ambassadors, journalists and a former Director of Central Intelligence, this Iranian threat to the world is validated and put into perspective. The experts discuss the insignificance of current U.S. policy towards Iran, which they see as dangerous because of complacency towards Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Traiman goes on to say that there is an American belief that Iran is Israel’s problem, but in reality this goes beyond Israel, and the nuclear potential in Iran is, “More sophisticated than bad guys with bad toys.”

He believes that the Iranian regime is fragile and that the Iranian people are not in support of the government, which means now is the time for the United States to act and state their support for the Iranian people. Otherwise, Traiman says, Iranians will view the U.S. as supporters of a despised and malignant government.

The documentary has already stirred controversy with Iranian officials for its openness and depiction of Iran’s nuclear threat, and the premiere of the film in Ottawa, Canada was originally cancelled. However, Canadian Heritage Minister, James Moore, stood defiantly in favor of the film, stating, “The Iranian Embassy will not dictate to the Government of Canada which films will or will not be shown in Canada.”

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About the author

Richard Thornburgh
Richard Thornburgh is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.

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