Iran’s Best Weapon: Western Media

Like someone who sends off a suicide bomber to blow himself up, but never risks his own life, Iran thought it would never be directly attacked.

Seeing that Israel knocked out Iraq’s nuclear program in 1981, the Syrian reactor in 2007, along with the American invasions of Iraq, and Israeli and American responses to other threats in the Middle East, Iran decided to invest its money in weapons to give to its proxies, a nuclear weapons program, and ballistic missiles — rather than improving the lives of its own people.

Iran never expected that Israel would knock out its proxies. The conventional wisdom in Iran was that the international community would always restrain Israel, or that Israel would be scared of a large response from Iran or its proxy terror groups.

The Iranian regime has not made a deal to stop the war because its main fear is its population revolting, and Tehran thinks it can outlast Israeli and American strikes, which it has so far done.

Before war broke out, President Trump was clear that he was thinking of using military force. But the Iranians saw the intense hatred for President Trump in the US, and a hyper focus on the midterm elections, and believed they could be a bully, telling Steve Witkoff that Iran had enough enriched uranium to make 10-11 bombs. This should have made a difference to journalists covering the war and what was happening in Iran, but Iran is aware of the psychology of the Western media.

Yes, journalists should not act as stenographers for the government, and should be critical. But Iran knew that there would be a great over-correction. Fair journalists are skeptical of everything — whether it comes out of a Republican or Democrat administration. But what has occurred is that the anger of being gullible about the Vietnam and Iraq wars, and to an extent Afghanistan — along with a disdain for President Trump — has resulted in the idea that America must never go to war unless there is another Pearl Harbor or 9/11.

Isn’t it better to prevent those things proactively? Also, it is not so easy to stop threats once they metastasize.

Whether someone supports or doesn’t support America’ military action in Iran should be based on being informed. Many Americans are not aware that Iran lied and said its missiles could not go beyond 2,000 kilometers, despite the fact that it recently almost hit the Diego Garcia base, showing it could go 4,000 kilometers with a lighter warhead. Many are not aware that Iran killed hundreds of American soldiers in the US and places like Lebanon, or that Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism. Many are not aware that their chants of “Death to America” are not symbolic, and that Iran has taken steps to make those chants a reality.

We also live in a world of clips, where people have no interest in the full context. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s full comments explain that America and Israel both decided that action was required against Iran. He specifically spoke of the exact timing in relation to Israel and the opportunity to take out Iran’s Supreme Leader. This allowed the Western media to say Israel dragged the US into war — when he was really speaking about the timing.

Iran knows that the Western media operates in soundbites, and will do everything to make Israel look like a villain. Simple things are easily digestible. No imminent threat. A deal could have been done. Iran was never going to have nukes because their leader issued a fatwa against it. American troops shouldn’t die for Israel. This propaganda is effective because it is short and simple. That it happens to be false is of no significance to people.

Iran is thrilled that many Americans who didn’t say a word when an estimated 30,000 Iranians were slaughtered repeat how terrible America is for the strike on the girls school, which was not believed to be intentional, while Iran intentionally hits Israeli civilian populations and uses cluster bombs. But we know that the Iranian regime has to be the good guy for those who want clicks and views.

The author is a writer based in New York.