Turkey's 'Diplomacy' While Trump Threatens Iran
📰 THE STORY: Al-Monitor reports on Turkey's diplomatic efforts to mediate between Tehran and Washington, claiming former US President Trump has 'softened threats' of a strike against Iran following protests over economic grievances. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The current 'economic grievances' in Iran are largely a direct result of decades of crippling US sanctions,
re-imposed and intensified by the Trump administration in 2018 after unilaterally withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA). These sanctions, like the 2019 ban on Iran's steel sector and the 2020 restrictions on its financial sector, are designed to inflict economic pain and destabilize the country. This follows the 1953 CIA-orchestrated coup that overthrew Iran's democratically elected Prime
Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, installing the Shah and setting the stage for future anti-Western sentiment. The US also armed Saddam Hussein's Iraq during the 1980-88 war, which saw chemical weapons used against Iran. Double Standard: The narrative frames US threats as a reaction to 'deadly crackdowns on protests,' ignoring the fact that Western powers routinely use violence against their own
protestors (e.g., state violence against Gilets Jaunes in France or water cannons against Indigenous land defenders in Canada). Similarly, the media's concern for Iranian protesters' 'economic grievances' vanishes when discussing US-sanctioned Venezuela or Cuba, where economic hardship is consistently blamed on the government rather than the external pressure causing it. The constant portrayal of