From AP (and widely picked up)
Iran said Monday it is barring CNN from working in Iran "until further notice" due to its mistranslation of comments made by the president in a recent news conference about the country's nuclear research.
In a speech Saturday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended Iran's right to continue nuclear research. State media have complained since the speech that CNN used the translation "nuclear weapons" instead of "nuclear technology."
The ban by the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry was read in a statement on state-run television.
"Due to mistranslation of the words of Ahmadinejad during his press conference, activities of the American CNN in Tehran are banned until further notice," the statement said.
CNN also has a story up about the ban. It notes that Iran's president has reportedly asked for the ban to be lifted:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has asked that a ban on CNN journalists in Iran be lifted and that the network be allowed to continue working in the country, according to a report by the official Iranian news agency IRNA early Tuesday.
From a CNN statement about the mistake (quoted in a different article):
'There are reports today, Monday, that Iran has banned us from the country. CNN is very disappointed that this action has been taken,' Nigel Pritchard, a spokesman for the company, said in a statement from CNN's headquarters in Atlanta.
'Due to an error in translation, CNN incorrectly quoted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his Saturday speech as saying that Iran has the right to build nuclear weapons,' the statement said.
In fact, President Ahmadinejad said that Iran has the right to nuclear energy, and that 'a nation that has civilization does not need nuclear weapons' and 'our nation does not need them',' the statement went on.
'CNN apologized on all its platforms which included the translation error, including CNN International, CNNUSA and CNN.com and also expressed its regrets to the Iranian government and the Iranian ambassador to the UN,' Pritchard said.
And it should be noted that the translation company used by CNN has apologized to the network for the mistake (from the CNN article):
The translation company, Lesley Howard Languages, apologized to CNN.
"Obviously, we're taking it very, very seriously. We will never use him again," owner Lesley Howard said, referring to the interpreter.
She said the same interpreter, who like other interpreters is contracted for individual projects, has done good work in the past, including for CNN.
She added that there is no reason to believe the interpreter purposely gave the wrong translation.
"We pride ourselves on having incredibly high standards," Howard said.
