Western media has an old habit of oversimplifying and
misrepresenting governments and political systems in other parts of the world,
especially in Iran. This tendency is rooted in long-held Western misconceptions
about non-Western cultures and a need to rationalize Western dominance by
portraying non-Western governments as inherently flawed and incapable.
According to The Tehran Times, an article published by
Reuters on July 18 was a perfect example of this lasting tradition. The article
titled “how Iran's Khamenei elevated a little-known moderate to the presidency”
claims that five people “with knowledge of the matter” informed Reuters about
how the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei managed
to raise voter turnout from an anticipated 13% to the 50% participation rate
recorded on the second round of the snap presidential elections on July 05,
2024.
“When intelligence officials briefed Iran's supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in May ahead of a snap presidential election, their
report was grim, angered by economic hardship and crackdowns on social
freedoms, most Iranians planned to boycott the vote and turnout would only be
about 13%. That's when Khamenei decided to plan a carefully orchestrated
election, setting the stage for a little-known but trusted moderate, Massoud
Pezeshkian, to rise to the presidency in a race that would initially be
dominated by hardliners, five people with knowledge of the matter told
Reuters,” the article read.
To discuss the article, we could deep dive and mention how
quoting five unidentified sources means Reuters could pretty much be pulling
information out of thin air; how unlikely it seems that five influential
figures within the Iranian leadership would share sensitive information with a
Western media outlet; and how there is no single evidence that suggests the
late President Ebrahim Raisi could have been the successor to Ayatollah Khamenei.
We
could also point out that Reuters has a track record of lies. For example, in
2020, its initial report denied the Iranian attack on the American Ain al-Assad
base in Iraq.
In
March 2022, Reuters alleged that Saudi energy facilities had been attacked from
Iranian soil and not Yemen.
In
2023, Reuters reported that Ayatollah Khamenei was displeased with Palestine's
Hamas for not seeking counsel about Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, despite previously
claiming that the October 07 operation happened after Iran’s “greenlight.”
All
these reports were written based on information provided by unidentified
“knowledgeable” figures, similar to what was published on July 18.
Instead of focusing on specific segments of this article and
similar ones published before, we will be focusing on the bigger picture and
try to understand the modus operandi employed in drafting them.
Western
media coverage of the Iranian government and leadership usually has an
underlying theme: everything in Iran is controlled by one person or entity and
democratic processes don’t exist. Besides that, Western journalists usually
portray Iran as simplistic, noncomplex, and dysfunctional.
These two factors combined will make it easy to understand
why Reuters felt the need to release a report based on information received
from imaginary sources to undermine Iran's presidential elections.
During
the 2022 riots in Iran, at least some authorities in the West seemed to have
come to the conclusion that the Islamic Republic was nearing its end. A previous
exclusive report by the Tehran Times revealed that Washington had even come up
with a 5-stage plan to topple the Iranian government, and was planning to
recognize an alternative government similar to what it’s been doing against
President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela.
Once the unrest died down and things got under control,
Western states decided that while their initial perception may have been wrong,
the 2022 saga still dealt an unrepairable blow to the Iranian government. The
Islamic Republic did not collapse in 2022, but that was the beginning of the
end for it.
When snap presidential elections were held two years later
in less than 50 days and 50% of the eligible voters participate, how is Western
media supposed to cover that?
It turns to its good old habit of reducing the establishment
to the plans and desires of a single figure.
In the view of Western media outlets, the success of the
snap vote in Iran does not mean the West had misunderstood the nature and
reverberations of the 2022 riots.
It means a single man had been plotting behind the scenes,
and this man somehow managed to think of a plan that would drag 30 million
people to the ballot box. And what was the plan? To allow a reformist figure to
take part in the elections – something that’s happened in every presidential
vote ever held in the country governed by reformists for a total of 32
years.
