Email, response to PolitiFact Texas, Alex Vatanka, scholar, Middle East Institute, Washington, Feb. 19, 2013

102 pm

I had a look. I used a couple of different combinations to do the search.

As I suspected, there is no sign of the Iranian regime officially expressing happiness about the nomination of Chuck Hagel.

In fact, there is surprisingly little sign of a coverage of this issue by Iran state-run media. Not the announcement, but whether it is a good thing for Iran or not.

Instead, the Iranian regime's media outlets outsource and refer to US and European coverage of Hagel's viewpoints. In other words, they describe the man thorough the likes of the Washington Post or UK's Independent.

If they ever celebrated in the streets on the announcement of Hagel, they made sure no one took any pictures.

In fact, I am highly confidant that they would avoid that sort of reaction as it does also make the Iranian regime kind of appear desperate and fearful of America's next steps. Tehran likes to publicly say it does not care because it is not afraid of US actions.

I hope this helps.

Alex