Iran apologizes for citing Onion spoof Obama poll as fact (kinda, sorta....)
By Alastair Jamieson, NBC News, October 1, 2012

An Iranian news agency issued a bizarre apology on Monday for citing a spoof story about President Barack Obama from satirical newspaper, The Onion, as fact.

Fars, the state-backed news source linked to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), admitted mistakenly republishing an article that claimed rural Americans preferred Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Obama.

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In a statement on its website on Monday, Fars acknowledged the error – but also listed a string of blunders by Western media outlets including the New York Times and the BBC.

"All media, at least those you know like the BBC, CNN, etc., have had many goofs," the statement said.

It also said that it still believed the Onion story was true.

"Although it does not justify our mistake, we do believe that if a free opinion poll is conducted in the US, a majority of Americans would prefer anyone outside the US political system to President Barack Obama and American statesmen," it quoted its own un-named editor-in-chief as saying.

The statement added: [....]