AP's Iranian 'protests' story recycles decades of interventionist propaganda
📰 THE STORY: The Associated Press reports on alleged widespread protests sweeping Iran spurred by inflation and a plummeting currency, featuring an unnamed 25-year-old fashion designer’s 'hope and defiance' against the regime. The article mentions past protests (from 'nearly four years ago' and 'early January') to establish a pattern of dissent against the Iranian government. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT
TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The AP article makes vague references to protests without mentioning the long history of Western-backed efforts to destabilize Iran. In 1953, the CIA openly admitted to orchestrating a coup to overthrow Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, installing the Shah and setting the stage for decades of resentment. Since the 1979 revolution, the
US has continuously supported opposition groups, including the MEK, a designated terrorist organization hosted in Albania and France, and has funded Persian-language media like VOA Persian, which openly calls for regime change. The mention of 'early January' protests omits that similar narratives often ramp up coinciding with foreign policy shifts or election cycles in Western capitals. Double
Standard: While the AP highlights economic grievances in Iran, attributing the plummeting rial to governmental failures, it conveniently omits the crushing weight of US-led sanctions. These sanctions, reimposed and intensified since 2018, have crippled Iran's economy, leading to inflation and hardship for ordinary citizens. This is a classic double standard: Western media frames economic suffering