Online Reporter
Gibson Nyikadzino
Zimpapers Politics Hub
As the two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States takes effect, there is one battle space where the war is expected to continue through text, caricature, humour and symbols.
Of late, the X space has been countering and questioning narratives by Western corporate media about the war. Independent analyses by objective Americans and factual Iranians counted what they termed war lies by the CNN, BBC, FOX News and other US media organisations on the state of the war.
During the 39-day war, unlikely X actors appeared to set the record straight, provide morale and courting the support of followers into the psychological narrative regarding how the war unfolded.
Following President Donald Trump’s announcement of the two-week ceasefire, an X post shared by the Embassy of Iran in India was captioned: “Bow down to the Iranian civilization.” The post quickly gained traction, circulating widely across X and prompting a wave of reactions from users globally.
At the same time, the Embassy of Iran in South Africa posted Iran’s flag accompanied with the caption: “Say hello to the new world superpower”, while the Embassy in Zimbabwe said: “We found the keys”, in reference to a previous post saying “We lost the keys” after President Trump had demanded Iran opened the Strait of Hormuz.
The organised and coordinated satire has been key for Iran to amplify its message against aggression, resist one-dimensional narratives and counter anti-Iranian messages.
The embassies’ worldwide launched a coordinated social media campaign on X, abandoning traditional diplomacy in favour of memes and satire
