How Iranian Protests Are Reported by the Mainstream Media

According to the New York Times, the mass protests in Iran that the world has been witnessing over the past few weeks represent citizens "demanding an end to the regime", which has responded by violently trying to quash demonstrations.

"Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people have been killed," the Times reports, citing "rights groups and an Iranian health official."

About 3,000 people have been killed across Iran, according to the anonymous health official, who "sought to shift the blame to 'terrorists' fomenting unrest", the Times adds.

What the demonstrations show, according to the Times, is "that many Iranians may now believe that the Islamic Revolution in 1979 has failed to address their everyday economic needs and has instead focused on extending its military might through its nuclear enrichment and proxy forces in the region."

The newspaper thus characterizes Iran's nuclear program as military in nature, despite Iran's insistence that it is for energy only and the absence of evidence for an active weapons program.

If one reads far enough down the page, one can also learn from the Times that the economic despair in Iran is a consequence of "harsh sanctions imposed by much of the world over its nuclear program."

Near the end, the Times also acknowledges "radicalism among the protesters", with the situation having "turned violent on both sides".

That's quoting Ellie Geranmayeh, an Iran expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, who added, "The regime and the security services see this as an extension of the U.S.-Israeli war and feel they must go full force to get the terrorists."

The Times thus tacitly concedes that there are terrorists operating in Iran during the mass protests.

A vague reference is then made to the "June war"—meaning the twelve days last summer of US and Israeli airstrikes in Iran, including on three nuclear facilities. According to Iran's Foundation for Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, as reported by Amnesty International, the joint strikes killed at least 1,100 Iranians, including at least 132 women and 45 children.

Among the protesters "aspiring leaders", the Times continues, is Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the former Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The Shah, or king, was overthrown during the 1979 Iranian Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was succeeded by Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.