The above screenshoot, clipped from the current Yahoo news site, is a typical part of the low level propaganda effort against Iran. But it seems to be also part of trend with Associated Press stories where the headline belies the article.

The full headline here is "Report: Iran Has Expanded Nuke Program" and it is also used by ABC News and several other sites who carry Associate Press feeds.

Websters defines a nuke as:

1 : a nuclear weapon
2 : a nuclear-powered electric generating station

All Iranian officials claim to have no nuclear weapon program. The IAEA head, Mohamed ElBaradei says there is no proof that Iran has such a program.

As for Iran, […,] El Baradei says it is not yet clear if the Iranian government has embarked on that same path [as North Korea].

"I say that the jury is still out. …"

Iran has announced through its "unofficial" student news agency, that it has fed Uranium gas into its second lab size row of centrifuges to test enrichment to civilian use level – this under official IAEA observation.

Indeed the body of the AP report above does not claim anything about an "expanded nuke program", but is a relative neutral round up of the issue.

So why does the headline editor at AP thinks he needs to stir the fire under the cauldron? How does s/he arrive at an "expanding nuke program"?

And no, this is not just an issue of the war on Iran or even U.S. foreign policy.

Josh Marshall pointed to a similar case of a completely misleading AP headline two days ago.

An AP piece carried by several news outlet, claimed in the headline: "Michael J. Fox ads for Democrats spark backlash."

As Josh says:

The article, which is from the AP, completely belies the message of the headline.

I do smell a trend here and wonder who really pays the AP headline writer.

Please let me know of other cases like these. I’m sure they are out there.