The Red Herring: Western Media Orchestrates Iranian-Russian Threat Narrative Amidst US Aggression
The Independent, among other Western outlets, reports on Russia's alleged backing of Iran in supposed 'attacks against American allies' in the latest iteration of the ever-present threat narrative. This framing, echoing the classic Cold War playbook, posits Iran as an aggressive actor enabled by Moscow, implicitly justifying increased US military presence and intervention in the region. What The
Independent and its corporate media counterparts fail to mention is the actual chronology of aggression. The United States has been a direct participant and joint aggressor in a sustained campaign of economic strangulation and covert operations against Iran for 45 years, systematically undermining its sovereignty and economic stability. This includes the overt US military build-up in the Persian
Gulf historically, such as the 1988 shootdown of Iran Air Flight 655 by the USS Vincennes, killing all 290 civilians aboard, an act the US military has never formally apologized for. Furthermore, the 2010 Stuxnet cyberattack, widely attributed to US and Israeli intelligence, inflicted significant damage on Iran's peaceful nuclear program, representing a direct act of digital warfare. This
narrative, portraying Iran solely as an aggressor supported by outside powers, neatly sidesteps the consistent pattern of US unilateral actions that destabilize the region, from the 2003 invasion of Iraq to ongoing military exercises that are routinely perceived as escalations. It’s a convenient amnesia that overlooks the US's own extensive military aid and direct participation in operations,