BBC contributor underneath fireplace after dismissing demise of Iran chief as ‘hoax’ | UK | News | EUROtoday

A contributor on the BBC has come underneath fireplace after dismissing the demise of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a hoax. In a Facebook publish, Mohamed Mohsen Abo El-Nour rejected US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement Khamenei had been killed in an airstrike on Tehran on February 28.

Mr Trump stated the demise gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their nation, but it surely additionally threw the way forward for the Islamic Republic doubtful and additional raised the danger of regional instability.

Under the heading, “Trump and his Khamenei assassination plan hoax!”, Mr El-Nour claimed the US chief had been “convinced to take part in the Israeli strategic deceit plan”.

He additionally claimed Khamenei was nonetheless alive when Mr Trump introduced he had been assassinated.

Mr El-Nour recommended that Israel hoped Khamenei would come out of hiding in response to the announcement and they might then kill him.

The author and commentator appeared on BBC Arabic the subsequent day, in one in every of a number of appearances on the service lately.

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He mentioned the after results of the killing after Iran’s Supreme National Security Council confirmed Khamenei’s demise.

Media monitoring organisation, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera), raised issues in regards to the BBC that includes Mr El-Nour.

A spokesman instructed The Times: “The BBC cannot simply hide behind claims about offering ‘various perspectives’, and it has a responsibility not to platform these dubious authors as contributors in the first place.”

The BBC described Mr El-Nour’s views as “abhorrent” and highlighted the truth that they weren’t expressed on the BBC, including: “We do not endorse them.”

Mr El-Nour has been approached for remark.