By Faramarz Kouhpayeh
Israel hopes a sensational story will help expand riots and enable US attack
TEHRAN – While Iranian authorities engage in dialogue with business owners and merchants protesting currency volatility—and prepare to introduce major reforms to ease economic hardships resulting from years of Western sanctions—Western media outlets have once again joined forces with their respective governments and their colonial project, Israel, to exploit the situation.
In their reporting, these Western outlets make no mention of how the lifting of sanctions would drastically improve the lives of Iranian citizens; instead, they focus on how the unrest might facilitate the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. They similarly fail to mention that armed individuals have infiltrated the demonstrations—elements that have brutally killed security forces, targeted citizens who opposed them, destroyed public property, and looted the very private businesses that initiated the protests out of a struggle for survival.
These reports rely on a familiar theme that previously inflamed the 2022 Iranian protests. Those demonstrations, which initially concerned the morality police (a body that has since been dismantled), rapidly devolved into deadly and violent riots after Western media spread the lie that a woman arrested by the unit had been killed after an assault. That woman, Mahsa Amini, actually collapsed while at the police station. Footage released by the station following her death showed her walking toward a female officer, speaking to her, and then passing out after the officer moved away. In a leaked phone call recorded when the unrest had yet to begin, Amini’s brother can be heard telling their mother that she had fainted “again.” Furthermore, a video published by the judiciary showed Amini’s father confirming to a prosecutor investigating the matter at her bedside that neither he nor the medical staff could find any sign of physical assault on her body. Amini passed away several days after her collapse; her cause of death was determined to be a long-standing medical issue for which she had previously undergone brain surgery. Though medical experts appeared on Western-based, Persian-language channels to claim her leaked brain scans showed head injuries, they admitted years later that they had lied “to protect the uprising” and that no such injuries were visible.
The narrative of Mahsa Amini’s death at the hands of police was a fabrication unsupported by evidence. To Western states, however, the truth was irrelevant; what mattered was that the story served as a means to achieve their political goal: the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. This lie was sold to the public, and protests that could have been resolved peacefully through engagement with authorities and lawmakers were transformed into widespread riots that claimed the lives of over 200 people, including dozens of security personnel. Once this saga concluded, the Western media, think tanks, and "human rights bodies" that had portrayed themselves as deeply concerned with the rights of Iranian women effectively became stenographers for Israel following the start of the war on Gaza in 2023. These self-proclaimed defenders of human and women’s rights have spent the last two years doing everything in their power to justify Israel’s campaign of mass murder, starvation, and rape of Palestinian women and children.
The riots currently affecting Iran do not compare to the unrest that plagued the country in 2022; most protesters have distanced themselves from these disturbances, recognizing that they act to the detriment of both the economy and the nation. Nevertheless, Western media outlets are once again employing the "body count inflation" technique to inflame tensions. While the original protesters have refused to join armed rioters, there remains a risk that impressionable youth could be drawn in if they are sufficiently overwhelmed by these narratives.
“In most social crises, 'narrative-building' beats the facts to the punch. Western media understands full well that if it can capture the public's attention with a sensational, emotional story before the truth emerges, it effectively shuts down the paths of reason, due process, and meticulous investigation,” noted media expert Mohsen Boluki in remarks to Iranian media. “The 'body count inflation' project fits perfectly into this playbook: it is about generating a shocking, unverified narrative designed to stir public outrage and push society toward chaos."
In recent days, Western media and social media accounts operated by Mossad have attempted three times to manufacture another Mahsa Amini. One instance involved a girl injured during riots in the southwestern province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari. While she had attended a gathering to protest economic conditions, she was injured only after armed groups began attacking security forces. Despite being declared dead on social media, she is currently recovering in the hospital. The fabrication grew so pervasive that her mother and brother had to issue public pleas for people to stop spreading rumors and upsetting the family.
Two other stories were even bigger lies. Two men, falsely reported as having been killed by security forces, had to publish videos proving they were alive and had not even attended the rallies. One of them remarked, “I found out this morning that I am dead. Apparently, I was killed in Tehran, even though I have been living in the north for several years now.” After jokingly asking social media users to wish him peace, he lashed out at the “rioters who seek to exploit legitimate protests.” Western media has also begun citing the old infamous "human rights” groups to allege that dozens of protesters were killed by police— without providing any identification of the victims or any evidence whatsoever.
Some analysts have warned that Israel may decide to use its armed elements—whom many American and Israeli officials have recently admitted are on the ground in Iran—to kill civilians, thereby creating its perfect new victim. Once riots expand, Israel may then attempt to persuade the Trump administration that an attack on Iran could serve as a decisive, final blow. Given that Trump has already twice threatened to strike Iran if Israel’s armed agents are eliminated, and in light of his failed military action against Iran in June, he may be particularly prone to making such a reckless decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment