Time magazine Managing Editor Richard Stengel got to break the news to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad this morning that President Barack Obama was about to accuse Iran of building a secret nuclear facility. Just watch Ahmadinjad’s face. He looks slightly amused and slightly nauseous at the same time, like a kid who just found out through playground chatter that he’s supposed to show up at 3 p.m. at the bike racks for a beat down.
“Mr. Obama is about to say this?” Ahmadinejad asks through an interpreter, seemingly hearing the news for the first time.
Awkward! The editor of Time knew about Obama calling out Ahmadinejad before Ahmadinejad did. So much for diplomatic back channels.
Alexandra Fenwick is an assistant editor at CJR.