McClatchy's Strobel 'Sad, Angry, Torn' About Leaving Iran

By: Joe Strupp Even though he estimates some 75% of western journalists were ordered out of Iran on Wednesday by government officials who would not extend visas, McClatchy's Warren Strobel -- one of those who had to depart -- believes information will still flow. But he also fears violence will get worse before it gets better.

"Thirty years ago, it would have made it impossible [to get news out]," he says of such a massive press ouster. "But now it is getting out because communication is better, so advanced. I had no idea until I got back how much Twitter was driving the story because I didn't have access to it over there. I have an account, but I do not use it."

Strobel, 46, had previously been in Iran once, in late 2008. This time, he had spent nine days there before being forced to leave on Wednesday after his 10-day visa expired and the government denied extensions. "That is pretty close to being ordered out," he says. "I didn't feel like I was targeted [by violence]. But we were targets of the government propaganda. They started blaming the western press."

The veteran reporter says he only felt in some danger once, on Monday, when he, a driver and a translator were in a car in Tehran as the streets filled with people and they were unable to move for 30 minutes. "You always like to have a good escape route in those situations, an exit because the situation can go out of control rapidly." He adds that "I saw people being beaten, militias smashing up cars."

After being forced to depart Wednesday, Strobel says of the Iranian people: "I was sad, angry and torn about having to leave because I worry for their safety."

Asked if things are likely to get much worse, he said, "I think there is a fairly large chance it could get more violent, significantly more violent. If the regime decides they can't tolerate this anymore, the only way they may hope to put it down is mass violence."

Strobel, who has covered violence in Iraq, the Sudan and Jerusalem -- and was part of the old Knight Ridder team that earned much praise for its reporting on the runup to the 2003 Iraq invasion -- says his recent Iran stint "was pretty near the top in terms of sheer excitement and challenges. I've never been in a situation like this where I was captivated by a story."

Strobel says the change in political and emotional mood from the pre-election time last week to election day and then protests was stark: "It is amazing to me that it started out as a referendum on Ahmadinejad and now it has blossomed into a bigger question about the future of the country. The situation changed rapidly and dramatically from covering happy pre-election rallies to no violence on Election Day and then the mood shifted Saturday after the first protests broke out."