In an interview with the entertainment website TheWrap, he defended President Ahmadi-nejad and said Iran had the right to nuclear arms—unconventional views that mirror the iconoclasm of the elder Stone, but which miss the point that the Islamic Republic does not claim the right to make nuclear weapons.
Sean Stone, 26, had just returned from Iran where he spent a week exploring the prospects for making a documentary about the 13th Century Iranian poet and mystic, Molana Jalaluddin Rumi.
News reports in Iran had said the younger stone was on a mission for his father, who would be joining him later. But Sean Stone said he was making the film on his own and his father wasn’t due to visit Iran.
While the rest of the world is pressuring Iran not to develop nuclear weapons – and Iran insists it is not – Stone said Iran had every right to go nuke and that it was wrong of the international community to assert to the contrary.
“[It is] like someone coming to your house and saying the father shouldn’t hit the kids,” he said. “Who are we to tell them how to rule their country?”
“Israel has nuclear weapons; Iran has the right to them,” he added. “Every nation has the right to self-determination for defense.”
Actually, as a signer of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has foresworn nuclear weapons, a point of which Stone seemed unaware.
The elder Stone, Oliver, has befriended people like the Cuban leader Fidel Castro and the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He has also made a film lauding South American leftists who are critical of American policy.
Sean came out enthusiastically in support of Ahmadi-nejad, saying the Iranian president is just misunderstood. He said much of the misunderstanding is because of a deliberate attempt in the United States to discredit the Iranian leader.
“He did come to America to extend a hand. And there’s a lot of mistranslation, literally. I’ve seen it. Ahmadi-nejad will say something and it will be mistranslated,” he said.
Added Sean: “A lot of this is bullshit, mistranslation. It’s an aggressive attitude on both parts, mostly on the American side.”
The Iranian government provides the translators used by Ahmadi-nejad when he visits the United States each fall for the UN General Assembly sessions.
The younger Stone went so far as to dismiss Iran’s Green Movement. “Iran is ruled by law,” he insisted. “People don’t like Ahmadi-nejad, but that doesn’t warrant a war or an uprising.”
Asked how he views the chants of “Death to America,” he cautioned against taking the slogans literally. “Because it’s emotional,” he explained. “It doesn’t have the meaning you think it does. It’s not political expression.”
Sean has previously worked on a number of ventures with his father, such as assisting the senior Stone in producing the 2004 Alexander that angered a lot of Iranians for its portrayal of ancient Persians.
Sean said he is going to set up a co-production company in Iran to produce films about Iranian history and culture. He attributed his decision in part to his own cosmopolitan inclinations.
He said he is in Iran “because they’re the biggest filmmakers in the Middle East. I’m very international-minded.”
The younger Stone’s passionate defense of Iran’s government didn’t go over well with some Iranian artists.
Filmmaker Mazdak Saedi expressed dismay at Stone’s comments. “This is insulting,” he said. “So many people have died. People there are shaking. They’re scared. It’s a police system.”
Saedi has been banned from returning to Iran because he has made anti-regime statements in the past.
Another filmmaker, Jafar Panahi, was arrested in the wake of the Green Movement protests and has been banned from filmmaking because of his anti-regime comments. Although much of Hollywood has signed petitions on behalf of Panahi, Sean didn’t comment about him.