As authoratative as IRNA no doubt is, I seriously doubt Western agencies take their lead from them.
I seriously doubt Western agencies take their lead from them.
In this case it seems likely that most agencies "took the lead" from the leading agencies, such as the BBC. But anyone covering Iran has to pay close attention to its official news agencies. The stories coming out of the "horse's mouth" were saying that the current Ayatollah approved of Ahmadinejad's statement, the head of Hamas appreciated it, etc. They weren't saying Ahmadinejad was misrepresented, and that probably means he wasn't, the vicissitudes of turning Farsi into idiomatic English notwithstanding. The posture of Iran towards Israel is extremely bellicose.
Surely that is obvious to any reasonable person.
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