How Iran became the world’s bogeyman

Over the past 47yrs, the Western establishment (governments, media, academia, entertainment industry, etc.), led by the US, has used carefully calibrated language to frame a narrative about Iran and its leadership.

The framing is meant to portray the Iranian government as the dangerous Other.

This narrative has been used to successfully brainwash Western societies (including some of our own) over four decades, to inspire fear and disdain of Iran, shape public opinion, to justify the destruction of a nation. 

Some of the framing include constant claims that (i) Iran is a theocratic state ruled by irrational religious extremists; (ii) Iran irrationally hates America and Israel and is seeking to destroy them; (iii) Iran rejects Israel’s right to exist (as an apartheid state); (iv) Iran has intentions to produce a nuclear bomb; (v) the Iranian leadership is oppressing their own people, especially women and the LGBTQ+ community.

The claim that Iran is a theocratic state is juxtaposed with Israel, “the only democracy in the Middle East.” Iran is portrayed as “the biggest state sponsor of terrorism” and its government (with an elected Parliament and President) referred to as “the regime” (dictatorship),while actual family dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, UAE, etc are “governments.” 

Facts

Prior to 1953, Iran was the only democracy in the Middle East. In March 1951, the then democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammed Mosaddegh, nationalised the Iranian oil industry which was controlled by Britain.

Mosaddegh was overthrown in 1953 in a coup d’état orchestrated by MI6 of the United Kingdom and the CIA of the United States.

The Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was imposed and Iran became an absolute monarchy, allowing Britain (and America) to regain control over Iran’s oil. 

The Shah ruled as a pro-Western despot with an iron fist, aggressively promulgated policies of westernisation and secularisation of Iranian society and institutions. Ayatollah Khomeini emerged in the early 1960s as a key opposition figure and mosques and religious institutions became centres of resistance.

Khomeini returned from exile to lead the revolution and transformed Iran from a pro-Western monarchy to an Islamic Republic.

Khomeini replaced the policy of westernisation and secularisation with Islamisation.

America launched a war against what it created, an Islamic Republic! 

Right after the 1979 revolution, America, Europe and the Arab countries funded and armed Saddam Hussein in a war against Iran in the 1980s and imposed suffocating economic sanctions that killed over a million Iranians over the decades. 

Threat to world peace

Is the Iranian leadership under the Ayatollahs deranged religious fanatics? In July 1988, America shot down an Iranian passenger plane, killing all 290 passengers.

Over the decades, Israel has assassinated several Iranian scientists and their families on Iranian soil.

In January 2020, America assassinated Qasem Soleimani in Iraq.

In April 2024, Israel attacked the Iranian embassy in Damascus, killing 16 people, including eight IRGC officers, and assassinated Ishmail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, in Tehran a few months later.  

In all the above, the Iranian leadership did not lash out.

In fact, the responses, under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were measured and restrained, mocked by many as pathetic! 

What Iranian leaders saw as strategic patience, America and Israel interpreted as weakness and launched full-scale wars against Iran in the so-called twelve-day war in June 2025 and now in what many call “Operation Epstein fury.”

But why are America and Israel so obsessed with Iran?

Religious Extremism: The main claim is Iran is governed by religious extremists but the real reason for the demonisation of Iran is their support for the Palestinian cause.

The Palestinians are Arabs. Iranians are Persians. Palestinians are Sunni. Iran is Shia. Iran supported Mandela and the ANC against apartheid.

America supported apartheid and branded Mandela a terrorist. Al-Qaeda, ISIS, al-Shabab, Hamas, Boko Haram, etc., are all Sunni of the Wahhabi-Salafi brand of Islam, the official creed of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

All emerged as direct results of American and Israeli military actions and have been funded by America and Israel at various points. 

American Evangelicals, who form the mainstay of Trump’s MAGA base and the most avid supporters of Israel, are motivated by a religious ideology, Zionism.

Many American politicians blindly support Israel because they believe Jews are the “chosen people” and Palestine was promised to Jews by God.

Conservative Christians and Sunni Muslims around the world who support the war against Iran are driven by biblical “prophecies” and religious/sectarian prejudices and hatred.

Between the two sides, who are the religious extremists?

Real threat

So, who poses a real threat to the world?

On the one hand, we have a President who brags about the military might of America like a five-year-old with a new toy and a Prime Minister who has been indicted as a war criminal.

Both have access to nuclear weapons and decades of well-established records of extra-judicial assassinations, bombings and destabilising other nations.

On the other hand, we have Iran which has not invaded another country in over two centuries, headed then by a devout religious leader who issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons, who consistently stood on the side of the oppressed against oppression in Bosnia, South Africa and Palestine.

Which of these two constitute a real and present danger to world peace?

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