Hakimeh Saghaye-Biria
On the morning of June 13th, Iran was confronted with devastating news: a genocidal regime had launched an attack on the nation, targeting prominent scientists and military commanders but also claiming the lives of innocent civilian men, women, and children. This brutal act occurred even as the regime’s American supporters had misled the global community into believing that a sixth round of negotiations was scheduled to begin in only two days (June 15th).
Despite expectations to the contrary, Iran responded with force, and the struggle continued for the next 12 days, culminating with a Zionist-requested ceasefire on June 24.
But what may have escaped global attention is the fact that for several years, including during the Gaza genocide and throughout the 12-day war, Israel used its Farsi-speaking propaganda networks in an attempt to convince Iranians that Israel was not at war with the Iranian people; that the war was against the Islamic Republic. Another propaganda line, mainly targeting the global public, was that this war was against Iran’s civilian nuclear program.
In reality, this is “a war for the greater Middle East,” to use Andrew Bacevich’s assessment of U.S. involvement in the region ever since the victory of the Islamic Republic, a war that more generally “is part of the US plan for global domination,” to use the American economist Michael Hudson’s assessment.
After all, for the past 24 years, Iran had permitted rigorous inspections and maintained unprecedented levels of collaboration with international organizations. Before recent escalations, assessments by various entities, including the American intelligence community, consistently concluded that Iran was not pursuing the development of a nuclear weapon and did not have an active nuclear weapons program. Nonetheless, two nuclear-armed states – the United States and Israel – carried out illegal, unauthorized attacks on Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities, which were constructed through the expertise and efforts of the Iranian people.
This article seeks to glance over more than six decades of propaganda targeting primarily the Iranian population. Still, more generally, the global public and influential figures should reveal how the recent 12-day imposed war represents yet another clash instigated by the United States against a nation striving to break free from the grip of America’s imperialist world order.
The starting point is the 1953 CIA-backed coup, in which the United States used an extensive propaganda campaign to overcome Iran’s nationalization of oil movement by creating a rift between the movement’s leaders and overcoming a unified public that was according to then U.S. ambassador to Iran, 95 to 98 per cent behind Mosaddeq.
The CIA coup against Mosaddeq comprised, among other things, a massive black propaganda campaign “to create, extend, and enhance public hostility and distrust and fear of Mosaddeq and his government.”
What needs to be noted, however, is the fact that propaganda did not end with the success of the coup. Joining “the U.S. empire of client states,” to use professors Sylvan and Majeski’s terms, the post-coup Iran was to fulfil US interests in the region, and the Iranian people were the main obstacles on the way.
Cultural imperialism remains a vicious tool in confronting the Iranian people. Two goals remain at the center of this confrontation: making the U.S. presence in and dominance over Iran and the West Asia region look “attractive” – and promoting dependence on the United States’ bourgeoisie as the only sure way to “progress.” For this to work, the inculcation of a culture of dominance was required, as it has been the case in other countries that have experienced direct or indirect colonial domination. But first, a brief explanation regarding the U.S. empire of client states.
Based on the findings of professors David Sylvan and Stephen Majeski in their book US Foreign Policy in Perspective: Clients, Enemies, and Empire, the United States has focused its foreign policy over the past century on creating a network of clients, each of which is tasked with pursuing US interests in its respective region. This approach has resulted in a unique form of dominance, which the authors term an “empire of client states.” A client state is a nation that permits the United States to exercise comprehensive oversight and control over its domestic affairs and aligns its foreign policy exclusively to serve American interests.
This is otherwise known as “neocolonialism.”
Following the 1953 U.S.-backed coup, Iran under the Shah became one of the most strategic clients of the United States in West Asia. This client-patron relationship hinged on two primary objectives for Iran to pursue: opposing the Soviet Union and supporting Israel. A notable example of this relationship is how Iranian oil played a crucial role in alleviating the effects of the Arab oil embargo on Israel in the early 1970s.
Research by Sylvan and Majeski highlights a recurring pattern in American foreign relations, where client states seek to withdraw from a dependent or subordinate role, as seen in Iran’s case through the Islamic Revolution. Their findings suggest the United States defines “enemies” as nations that deliberately and systematically diverge from American positions on significant political, economic, foreign, and domestic policy issues. In other words, enemies are those that practice systemic independence from the United States in their domestic and foreign affairs. The U.S. tends to develop a hybrid system of hostility to weaken and eventually to overthrow the states insisting on the right to pursue sovereignty.
Within this framework, the Islamic Republic of Iran is categorized as an adversary due to its consistent pursuit of independence from U.S. influence, and furthermore its rejection of U.S. influence (via Israel and U.S.-led wars of encroachment and destabilization) within the surrounding region.
The Islamic Republic of Iran not only embodies systematic independence from the United States but has also developed a distinctive theory of independence rooted in what it calls the “strategic culture of resistance.” This approach has become a source of concern for American imperialist officials and anti-Iran foreign policy circles, as they fear the exportation of this ideology to other nations – frequently referred to under the label “the threat of exporting the revolution.”
Thus, one of the most significant achievements of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution was the dismantling of the patron-client relationship with the United States, a relationship that had solidified through cliency tools such as the creation of the notorious SAVAK – the Shah’s intelligence agency created by CIA officers in the aftermath of the coup and trained by the CIA and Mossad over ten years afterward, and the several thousands of American military advisors present in Shah’s Iran. Thus, the Islamic Revolution was not merely the overthrow of a despotic monarchy; it marked the removal of a regime subordinate to U.S. interests, which would go as far as torturing its own countrymen in the name of American interests.
It was also a movement against the United States’ attempt at creating “a culture of domination” in Iran, to use Ayatollah Khamenei’s words in his address to the Non-Aligned movement in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1986:
“The culture of domination has conditioned weaker nations to accept humiliation and grow dependent on oppression. To counter this, humanity must be healed from within. It is essential to instill a profound belief in human dignity, strength, God, genuine human values, and the hollowness of tyrannical powers. Such belief serves as an unyielding shield for individuals. Islam, along with all divine religions, directs humanity away from the path of domination and toward this empowering faith. Iran’s Islamic Revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic stand as extraordinary, living proof of the fallacy that global domination is invincible and its will cannot be resisted. The revolution’s central message to nations is clear: submitting to systems of dominance and legitimizing the authority of the powerful merely because of their power is both wrong and a grave injustice. This act of submission itself becomes the most potent instrument of illegitimate control. The great Islamic Revolution of Iran sees its profound success in its unwavering reliance on God’s eternal power and the will of the people, while viewing hostile and aggressive powers as ultimately defeatable. This spirit has empowered us to openly and boldly reject global systems of oppression and tyranny. We consider this rejection our duty and remain deeply hopeful about advancing this mission.”
The American attempt at creating such a culture of domination in Iran had two pillars: pushing Iran to succumb to a colonized version of nationalism and to believe in the myth of American exceptionalism. In other words, the US cultural imperialism apparatus attempted to lock Iran, just as in the case of other non-Western nations, within the frameworks of Orientalism and the American version of Eurocentrism, cementing the neocolonial model in yet another country in the region. The colonized version of Iranian nationalism rested on three pillars: glorification of Iran’s ancient past, de-Islamization, and Westernization. It is worth noting that such development in Iran reflected a pattern of cultural domination in other Muslim nations that suffered from Western colonization.
The movement led by Imam Khomeini inspired Muslims worldwide to break free from such dependency. In a message addressing global Muslims, Imam Khomeini called for resistance against oppression and subjugation, urging them to overcome their fear of death and confront adversaries with resolve. He stated that dignity and life are achievable through struggle, and that resistance begins with determination to reject domination, particularly from powers like the United States.
The Imam noted in his historic message on Iran’s acceptance of the 598 UN Resolution ending the 8-year imposed war, “Today, the grief and distress of America and the Eastern and Western blocs lie in the fact that not only has Iran freed itself from their patronage, but it also calls others to liberate themselves from the tyranny of oppressors.” Furthermore, he stated, “What greater joy could there be than witnessing the Iranian nation overthrowing the pillars and institutions of the oppressive monarchy and shattering America’s lifeline in this country.” Iran had reached a point where it no longer wanted to “pull the cart of American or Soviet politics.”
These words of Imam Khomeini still ring in our ears as we witness the Gaza Genocide,
“The reality is that the arrogant governments of the East and the West, and in particular the US and the Soviet Union, have in effect divided the world into those who are free and those who are quarantined. In the free part of the world, it is the superpowers who know no limits and abide by no laws, and consider transgression towards the rights of others, colonialism, exploitation, and slavery of nations a necessity and completely justified and logical and in line with all their contrived principles and international rules.
“But in the politically quarantined part, in which unfortunately most of the weak nations and especially the Muslims have been imprisoned, there is no right to life and free speech. All the laws and rules and formulas are those dictated and in favor of the puppet governments and in accordance with the interests of the arrogant (powers). And unfortunately, most of the officials of this part are either imposed rulers or the followers of the arrogants’ main guidelines, who consider even a cry out of agony in these shackles and chains as an unforgivable crime and sin.”
The late Dr. Kalim Siddiqui, a Muslim leader and author from England, highlighted in his 1996 book, The Stages of the Islamic Revolution, that achieving an Islamic government necessitates an “intellectual revolution” within the political thought of Muslims. He emphasized that without eradicating the deeply ingrained influence of Orientalism in the fabric of Muslim thinking, no true transformation or progress would occur within Muslim societies. One of the most significant political achievements of the Islamic Revolution has been the establishment of such an “intellectual revolution,” not just in Iran but across the Islamic world and arguably across the globe. Indeed, the Islamic Revolution challenged the paradigm carefully crafted by colonial powers over decades to define a desirable global order in terms of a system of domination and subordination.
Independence forms the cornerstone of the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as articulated in Article 152 of Iran’s constitution. This article explicitly outlines principles such as rejecting all forms of domination, preserving comprehensive sovereignty and territorial integrity, ensuring defense of Muslim rights, abstaining from alignment with hegemonic powers, and pursuing peaceful relations with non-hostile states.
In the perspective of Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei, independence is understood as a multilayered process rather than a simple outcome. The first layer involves mental decolonization, wherein a nation not only desires genuine sovereignty but also perceives reliance on foreign powers as incompatible with Islamic monotheism. Independence is thus not an optional goal to pursue but a religious obligation. The second layer requires national empowerment, focusing on the advancement of Iran’s capabilities. This includes peaceful nuclear technology through scientific progress, as well as strengthening economic, political, cultural, and military infrastructures, which are prerequisites for independence. The third layer emphasizes managing international relations strategically to unite independent nations in an alignment against global hegemonies. This collective effort materializes in forming alliances like the “Axis of Resistance.”
Two primary objectives guide these coalitions: first, creating regional alliances to counter American interference in West Asia; and second, establishing global partnerships to oppose U.S. economic hegemony worldwide. Responsibility for achieving the first goal lies with the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which has successfully expanded Iran’s strategic presence in the region post-Iraq’s eight-year imposed war (1980-1988). This strategic resistance culture has been operationalized and transferred to other nations as a model for confronting external pressures. Iran’s pivotal role as the leader of the Axis of Resistance has significantly disrupted U.S. military agendas in West Asia, prompting a multifaceted campaign against the Islamic Republic by Washington.
The deep animosity of American leadership and Israel’s regime toward the IRGC, in general, and martyr General Qassem Soleimani, in particular, stems from this decisive role in foiling U.S. plans in the region.
Progress toward the second objective – working toward building a global resistance power bloc – falls under Iran’s executive branch, particularly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Efforts such as Iran’s accession to BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are among pivotal steps toward establishing a non-Western economic power bloc that can challenge colonial structures, neutralize sanctions, and foster economic growth.
In its final issue of the year 1979 (December 31), Time Magazine named Imam Khomeini as “Man of the Year”. It proclaimed, “One thing is certain: the world will not again look quite the way it did before Feb. 1, 1979, the day on which [Imam] Khomeini flew back to a tumultuous welcome in Tehran after 15 years in exile.”
The significance of Ayatollah Khomeini’s movement lay in its ability to challenge the Western-centric global order – most notably that led by the United States – as the dominant cultural and political paradigm aiming for universal influence. According to Dr. Salman Sayyid, sociology professor at the University of Leeds, in his article “Khomeini and the decolonization of the political, “it is only with [Imam] Khomeini that the role of Western discourse as universal interlocutor appears to be shaken. The fall of the Peacock Throne marked more than just the end of an absolute monarchy. It signalled the decline of a worldview in which universality was synonymous with Westernness. ”
Elsewhere in his message regarding the acceptance of the 598 UN Resolution ending the 8-year imposed war, the Imam shared this revolutionary ethos with Muslims worldwide, urging them to rise against foreign domination. He addressed them with these profound words: “Muslims across the globe, as long as you remain under the tyranny of foreign powers, you are trapped in a slow death. Overcome your fear of death by harnessing the energy and determination of spirited youth committed to martyrdom. These individuals can break through the frontlines of disbelief. Do not strive to maintain the existing order; instead, seek liberation from servitude and strive for freedom by confronting Islam’s enemies. Remember that dignity and life lie in struggle and a strong will. Similarly, resolve firmly that global disbelief, particularly the dominance of America, is forbidden over you.”
Not surprisingly, confronted with Iran’s firm determination to not only rid Iran of foreign domination but to rid the region of foreign domination, the United States and the Zionist regime have made extensive use of propaganda as a pivotal tool in shaping political and social dynamics, particularly in the realm of instigating regime change in Iran. This is because the primary obstacle to altering the current government lies within its populace.
Furthermore, as observed by researchers Sylvan and Majeski, for the United States to effectively destabilize and work toward regime change, it must first undermine the “international legitimacy” of the opposing state. This is where propaganda becomes essential; it acts as a cornerstone of the U.S.’s broader campaign to create an environment conducive to its objectives. The U.S. employs a vast array of tools through its media empire, utilising both state-owned media outlets and those that obscure or deny any formal association with American institutions.
The scope of this information warfare has evolved, with the modern era witnessing an increasingly sophisticated, pervasive network capable of influencing every facet of life within so-called enemy nations. Social media platforms, often privately owned, play a significant role in advancing these foreign policy goals, offering new avenues for dissemination and engagement.
The strategy behind America’s use of propaganda can be traced back to the Cold War era. According to Professor Greg Simons of Uppsala University in his paper “The Evolution of Regime Change and Information Warfare in the 21st Century,” conservative thinkers in the U.S. during the later phases of the Cold War (1970s–1980s) believed they were losing the geopolitical competition mainly due to the perceived efficacy of Communist information warfare. Carnes Lord, a professor at the Naval War College, highlighted this concern in his book Political Warfare and Psychological Operations: Rethinking the US Approach, pointing to America’s psychological-political defeat during the Vietnam War as a prime example. In that conflict, Communist forces managed to dominate through ideological and psychological influence, whereas U.S. efforts faltered. In response to this perceived vulnerability, the United States sought to create its version of revolutionary efforts aimed at both countering and rolling back Soviet influence. This approach led to initiatives like supporting the Contras against Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista government in what became a violent and bloody clash – fueled by both direct warfare and information campaigns.
Anthony Codevilla, an expert in international relations from Boston University and a former naval officer, elaborates further in an article titled “political warfare” in the above-mentioned edited book. He posits that before engaging in direct, physical intervention within a target country, the U.S. systematically uses political warfare to lay the groundwork for regime change. This process unfolds across several layers, including psychological operations, diplomatic manoeuvres, and targeted media strategies designed to weaken confidence in governing powers. As the tools and strategies surrounding propaganda continue to develop, their impact on global politics remains undeniable, emphasizing its importance in achieving strategic outcomes without immediate physical confrontation.
Political warfare against enemy states is pursued across several levels, as described below:
In the last couple of years, in particular, and especially in the months and weeks leading to the military confrontation against Iran, the Zionist regime has played the role of the foreign power discussed in number 4 above.
Only after these conditions are achieved can operational elements in the physical environment commence.
The following institutions play key roles in facilitating soft power and intervention efforts (commonly referred to as “soft warfare”) on behalf of the U.S. government. All have been actively involved in the Iranian domain for years:
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a speech delivered on April 21, 2019, at Texas A&M University, provided an intriguing portrayal of CIA propaganda operations, in particular, an organization he once led. He stated that during his tenure, “We lied, we cheated, we stole. We had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.” Considering this perspective, it comes as no surprise that deception and manipulation are integral components of the current hybrid information warfare being waged against Iran.
It can be argued that the United States has been engaged in conflict with Iran since the 1953 CIA-backed coup, but mainly since the victory of the Islamic Revolution. This confrontation has taken various forms, including overthrowing the Mosaddeq government, creating a brutal client dictatorship in Iran between 1953 and 1979, economic warfare, and, last but not least, military warfare. American military confrontation took the form of encouraging Saddam to attack Iran in 1980 and supporting him throughout the 8-year imposed war. For 72 years of conflict, of which supporting Israel in the 12-day war and direct US attacks on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure are the latest examples, what has remained constant is the extensive use of propaganda.
While Netanyahu wants us to believe that this is a war between the “forces of civilization and the forces of barbarism,” in reality, this is a war encapsulating 533 years of resistance against colonialism. By infusing nationalism with Islamic resistance, the Iranian people showed that they stand on the right side of history. The struggle continues; Gaza is still bleeding; genocide must stop; the world should remain vigilant and united against forces of settler colonialism, apartheid, oppression, and genocide. Let us all stand on the right side of history.
Hakimeh Saghaye-Biria is an assisstant professor at the University of Tehran. She has a Ph.D. in American Studies and a Master’s degree in mass communications. She is the author of Political Islamophobia at American Policy Institutes: Battling the Power of Islamic Resistance (2012) and Decolonizing the “Universal” Human Rights Regime: Questioning American Exceptionalism and Orientalism (2018) among other works.
