Thread by @kshahrooz

1/ 🧵THE LIES THEY SOLD THE WEST- Pt. 2

The #IranRevolution has made clear that Iranians despise their regime.

I'm looking at some Iran commentators to assess what they conveyed to Western audiences over the years.

Today: What the #IranLobby said about Qassem Soleimani

2/ To start, Soleimani's background: in short, he was a mass murderer.
> he & other IRGC commanders demanded that Prez Khatami crush the Iran's student protesters in 1999
> His Quds Force carried out attacks in Thailand, New Delhi, Lagos, and Nairobi

3/
> he was behind many of the IED attacks in Iraq.
> killed tens of thousands, including women and children, in Syria.

As soon as the #IranRevolution began, one of the first acts of revolutionaries, in his hometown, was to rip down his picture.

4/ So, what was the take of some of the Iran "experts" in the West, many of whom are quoted by the media?

Mr. Trita Parsi, formerly of NIAC & now of Quincy Institute, say that Soleimani was actually trying to reduce tensions! Yes, blessed be the peacemakers!

5/ Here is Trita Parsi again claiming that Iran (by which I assume he means the Iranian public) has become more united as result of the grief of Soleimani's killing by Trump.
This is a recurring theme in the "expert" analysis, as you will see.

6/ Another point repeatedly made by Parsi & his associates was that killing Soleimani sets us on a path to war with Iran. As the new head of NIAC, Mr. Jamal Abdi, phrased it, the killing of Soleimani was a "Franz Ferdinand moment", igniting a world war.

7/ Of course, the prediction ended up being totally wrong. It was the IRI's *claim* that war was inevitable (a claim Parsi, Abdi and others dutifully echoed.)
The only "hard revenge" Iran got on Soleimani was the killing of 176 innocent people aboard civilian flight #PS752.

8/ Here is Ms. Azadeh Moaveni, a journalism prof at @nyu_journalism, formerly of @CrisisGroup, and regular contributor to the @nytimes & @NewYorker, on how "massively popular" and "admired" Soleimani was.

9/ Negar Mortazavi, a pundit regularly in Western media, portrayed Soleimani as a "heroic underdog" killed in "cowardly fashion" (like Imam Hossein, a story Shi'a Muslims would know well), & claimed Iranians were "outraged" and would mourn him in a "rare show of national unity".

10/ Here is Ms. Assal Rad, Research Dirctor at NIAC. I have to devote several tweets to her statements about Soleimani.
Soleimani's death stirred "nationalist feelings" best captured in song. He was mourned by "millions".

11/ Ms. Rad disseminated a University of Maryland poll (the same polling company that recently said people had high hopes for Raisi) claiming that Soleimani "has continuously been 'the most popular Iranian public figure'" who will now be "revered as a martyr" by the public.

12/ The killing was awful, according to Ms. Rad, that Iranians "won't soon forget" the "historical moment" of his killing. Makes sense since, according to Ms. Rad, Soleimani was "seen as [the] nation's bodyguard".

13/ Echoing the earlier sentiment of Negar Mortazavi, Ms. Rad, too, draws from Shi'a theology, comparing Soleimani to Imam Hossein (a figure whose killing, in the Shi'a mind, represents the ultimate act of cruelty.)

14/ Ms. Rad also conveyed anecdotal evidence from her "family & friends", reiterating her earlier claim that Soleimani was a nation "bodyguard" whose killing wounded our [query who is included in 'our'] "national pride".

15/ The reporting and analysis of Ms. Farnaz Fassihi of the @nytimes also merits a mention. She noted that "millions" attended Soleimani's funeral in a show of "genuine" grief.

16/ Ms. Fassihi also echoed themes you've seen earlier: the killing of Soleimani would "[unite] Iranians of all stripes" and would take the "region to the brink of war."
She told her massive readership that even "dissidents & activists" were at "Gen. Soelimani's funeral."

17/ This analysis found its way into her actual reporting in the @nytimes.
She said that "Iran unites in millions to mourn Gen Soleimani" and that he was "universally admired" and had "near cult figure status."

18/ I'd worked on this thread, not knowing that @y_fazeli would be doing something similar, so I urge you to also read his thread on the topic of "“Qassem Check" (i.e. your ability to tell a lot about commentators based on how they wrote about Soleimani.)

19/ I write these threads for several reasons: (1) so maybe Western media will see them & question why these ppl, and not others with a more accurate understanding of the mood in Iran, were platformed; &(2) to remind Western leaders & public that they were lied to for years. /END

Addendum 1: a reader sends these. @DEsfandiary is with the @CrisisGroup