Simplistically describing Iran as a “medieval theocracy”, as Jack Waterford does, is de rigueur across Australian mainstream media, in line with most western media in general where Murdoch and other powerful corporate oligarchs shape the political narrative for others to follow.
Australian media is thoroughly entrenched in a paradigm dependent on US-UK-Euro “news sources”, which refuse to hear anything else, even as – paradoxically – mainstream media becomes increasingly irrelevant as a source of reliable information or worthwhile discussion about anything.
In relation to Iran, Waterford – like the whole right wing Australian political class – for some reason has refused to even cursorily pay some attention to what highly credentialed western analysts across the highest levels of diplomacy, operational military and intelligence experience in West Asia, all with high level contacts in the region and within the US, China, Russia and elsewhere, have to say.
I would recommend Waterford extend his information base about Iran beyond facile propaganda. There are multiple avenues to do so, even within the highly censored Australian online media landscape.
Try Chas Freeman, Max Blumenthal, Alastair Crooke, Larry Johnson, Ray McGovern, Scott Ritter, Jeffrey Sachs, John Mearsheimer, or Pepe Escobar for starters.