Iranians Reject Regime Sentiment On Hamas War
While the Islamic Republic is cheering about the war in Israel, Iranians’ reactions to the regime’s propaganda indicate a complex societal schism.
While the Islamic Republic is cheering about the war in Israel, Iranians’ reactions to the regime’s propaganda indicate a complex societal schism.
Iranian media and social media platforms are awash with posts and discussions about the ongoing conflict, but some clips are more telling than others to grasp people’s nuanced perspective on the war. The sentiments within Iran are far from uniform as the regime intensifies its rhetoric in support of the war, and people are tired of the hackneyed propaganda of the regime that aims to justify the atrocities.
While countless posts sympathetic to Israelis who have suffered the biggest loss of life in one day since the holocaust are promoting hashtags such as “Iranians Stand With Israel,” the regime and its cyber minions are promoting their own narrative, reposting hashtags for Hamas’ appellation of the attack: “Operation al-Aqsa Storm.”
Several leading Iranian opposition figures such as exiled prince Reza Pahlavi have also spoken out in support of Israel, reiterating that the regime’s narrative does not represent the feelings of ordinary Iranians.
A clip from an Iranian entertainment talk show has become viral on online spaces in the past few days, featuring a woman who passionately said if she had “two kilograms of explosives,” she would detonate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Knowing that such statements are well rewarded by the authorities in Iran, another guest of the show took the floor saying that “it’s a waste to spend two kilograms of material on him.”
He added that a matchstick would suffice to burn him claiming that he burns fast because he is ‘najis’ -- an Islamic term referring to something dirty that cannot be cleaned. In a gleefully abhorrent tone, the woman said he cannot be killed with a matchstick. Everybody in the show, which is by no means a serious political program, are smiling and having fun talking nonchalantly about killing the Israeli premier.
The regime has also erected large banners to advertise the attack in Tehran in several major cities, and has held large celebrations, distributing candies and drinks on streets for the attacks that have already killed around 900 Israeli civilians and soldiers, in an attempt to shape how the Iranians feel about the war.
However, another viral clip pictures the true feeling of Iranians about the regime’s support for its proxy war. On Sunday, thousands of Iranian football fans chanted for the removal of Palestinian flags from the pitch during Tehran’s popular club Persepolis match against Golgohar. Contrary to regime-sponsored events, in which slogans are provided by the regime propagandists, football fans in Iran expressed their thoughts uncensored and spontaneously. They could be heard shouting, "Take that Palestinian flag and shove it up your A**!"
Iranians are also using other slurs against the travesty that the regime tries to promulgate, calling the operational codename of Hamas attack “the al-Aqsa f**t” instead of storm.
It stands in stark contrast to the rest of the Arab world where street protests show people coming out in the masses to celebrate the Hamas operation. Scenes in countries such as Iraq, Turkey and Lebanon show the ongoing support for Palestine which has become one of the most sensitive issues in the Middle East.
Another clip that can shed light on the spirit of Iranians regarding Israel was from 2020 but has become viral again after the Saturday attack in which thousands of rockets rained down on Israel from 6am and dozens of armed militia troops invaded by land, sea and air. In the clip, crowds of people are seen outside Tehran’s Beheshti University refusing to trample over a giant Israeli flag that had been painted on the ground.
The Islamic Republic paints large US and Israeli flags at the entrance gates of schools, universities, garrisons and many other state buildings to force people to walk on them as a symbolic hate gesture. Walking on or burning these flags has been a feature of almost all regime-sponsored demonstrations. The refusal to step on the flags was not a single incident and has been captured in several videos of other gatherings.
Taken together, these clips and reactions paint a complex mosaic of Iranian sentiment towards the Israel-Hamas conflict. A significant portion of the population remains opposed to the narrative of the regime, which does not reflect the views of the Iranians.
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Foreign ministry spokesperson Naser Kanaani told the media that Palestinians launched the attack relying on their own power and insisted that accusations against Iran have political motives.
Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad told the BBC on Sunday that Iran provided support to the Palestinian terror group to launch its surprise attack on Israel on Saturday. The Wall Street Journal also reported that both Hamas and Hezbollah sources confirmed the involvement of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in planning the attack and in the final decision to set a date.
The Iranian regime also immediately launched celebrations on Saturday while the killing of Israeli civilians was still going on, and even erected large banners in Tehran within hours bearing the codename for the operation, a fact that betrayed Iran’s foreknowledge of the attack.
The Iranian regime signaled its support for Hamas, which is largely financed and armed by Tehran. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s social media, President Ebrahim Raisi and a host of other officials and the state media widely expressed their satisfaction with the attack the very first day.
Hardliner regime loyalists in Iran continued to defend their policies in supporting the Palestinian Islamic Hamas, some by issuing threats against regional countries.
"The best way to destroy Israel is the overthrow of the regional puppet governments. Israel does not have the audacity to attack Iran, with the advanced weapons we possess, we will destroy Israel. We have things they are unaware of." These were the words of Fereydoun Abbasi on Monday, a hardliner member of the Islamic parliament and a former head of Iran’s nuclear agency.
His reference to “puppet governments” is a typical label used by Iranian officials to refer to Saudi Arabia and its allies. Abbasi’s comment shows how shallow the apparent détente is between Tehran and Riyadh, who restored diplomatic ties in March with Chinese mediation. His comments, along with many others since October 7, also show more than ever the Iranian regime’s commitment to eradicate Israel.
Ali-Akbar Velayati, foreign policy advisor to Ali Khamenei was quoted on Monday as telling his Syrian counterpart, “Those who believe that by so-called normalization of relations with the Zionists and cutting off ties with the Muslim nations of the region can solve their problems should take heed of these events.”
Kanaani also made it clear during his briefing that the Hamas attack was linked to the rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. He underlined that Khamenei had warned Arab countries last week not to engage in such a “gamble” and instead support the Palestinians.
The large-scale terror attack on Israel will probably keep the Islamic Republic firmly in the category of rogue regimes for some time to come. Statements by regime figures clearly show that Iran’s aging ruler Ali Khamenei took the Hamas gamble to disrupt the emerging normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Since its inception in 1979, the Islamic Republic has relentlessly pursued an anti-West, anti-Israel ideology. Its foreign policy is to a large extent the by-product of this ideology based on 20th century propaganda rhetoric largely disseminated at the time by the Soviet Union and its Communist and leftist allies around the globe.