💥 Conflict: Controlling Combat Communication

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💣 First Bombs, Then Words

On 13th June, Israel’s proxy war against Iran evolved into a direct conflict when Israel launched a surprise attack on Iranian military and nuclear facilities. Following an Iranian military response on Israel, speculation was rife as to whether the U.S., a staunch and longtime Israel ally, would join the conflict. U.S. president Donald Trump initially indicated a “may or may not” statement regarding American involvement, giving himself “two weeks” to make a decision, based on what he said on 19th June.

On 22nd June, the U.S. bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities. It was the first active military engagement of Trump’s second presidential term. A flurry of social media posts, official statements, and news media analysis followed, all amplifying the official White House narrative that the strikes had been an unmitigated success. Iran, for it’s part, retaliated with a strike on the largest U.S. military base in the region, the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which led to a short term closure of airspace in the region. Then, on 26th June, after a week of silence, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei released a video statement in response to the bombings, stating that the U.S. achieved nothing from the strikes.

In this special edition of Signpost, we will look at the transcripts of the statements given by President Donald Trump as published in the Associated Press (AP) the oldest news organisation in the U.S., and from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as published on his official website. The statements will be reviewed in chronological order, beginning with Trump’s statement from 22nd June.

🇺🇸 ASSOCIATED PRESS: Transcript of Trump’s speech on US strikes on Iran [link]

📢 What AP is saying
It’s hard not to read the transcript, as prepared by AP, in Trump’s instantly recognisable voice. Trump praises, then thanks, the U.S. military, Israel, and God, while finding time to condemn Iran.

1. 📸 Visuals

In the solitary visual used for this article, AP goes with a screenshot from the video of Trump’s speech from the White House. Trump is standing up front, behind a dark blue podium with the seal of the President of the United States on it, as he speaks into a black microphone. He wears a dark blue suit, white shirt, and a red tie, along with a tiny American flag pin on his left lapel. He is looking straight into the camera. Behind him, from the left to the right, is Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth. All three behind him are in dark suits, and blue or red ties. All men look serious.

Behind them is the White House, with an ornate chandelier with 10 lights hanging from the ceiling. There is also a bust just behind Vance, with plants behind Hegseth. There are Greco-Roman style pillars and other maximalist-style architectural elements in the room, along with a variety of lighting and other decorations.

2. ✍🏽 Words

The headline and first line of the article is very factual and straightforward, though the reader is reminded that this transcript isn’t an official White House version, rather it is made by the AP.

Trump begins by thanking everyone, before explaining that ‘a short time ago’ the U.S. delivered ‘massive, precision strikes’ on the three Iranian nuclear facilities of ‘Fordo, Natanz and Esfahan’. Trump claims that ‘everybody heard those names for years’ as the Iranian government developed ‘this horribly destructive enterprise’. He states that the American ‘objective’ was to destroy the Iranian nuclear facilities by crippling ‘the world’s number one state sponsor of terror’.

The strikes themselves were, as Trump calls them, ‘a spectacular military success’, with the facilities ‘completely and totally obliterated’. He goes on to call Iran ‘the bully of the Middle East’, insisting they should negotiate for peace, if not threatening bigger ‘future attacks’. Here Trump recalls the past, saying ‘for 40 years, Iran has been saying ‘Death to America’, ‘Death to Israel’.’ He continues to accuse Iran of ‘killing our people’, ‘blowing off’ their ‘arms’ and ‘legs’. He mentions that thousands of people have been ‘lost’ because of Iranian ‘hate in particular’. He name checks the former Iranian military general Qassim Soleimani (who was assassinated in Trump’s first term by the Americans), before declaring that Trump personally decided ‘a long time ago’ that he ‘would not let this happen’.

He thanks the Israeli prime minister ‘Bibi Netanyahu’, whom he worked with closely, ‘like perhaps no team has ever worked before’, the Israeli military for their ‘wonderful job’, and also the ‘great American patriots’ who piloted the ‘magnificent machines’ who delivered the bombs. He finally thanks the entire U.S. military, claiming their operation was something ‘the world has not seen in many, many decades’, along with thanking the U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whom he calls a ‘spectacular general’.

He ends by saying that this kind of military attacks ‘cannot continue’. He claims there could be more ‘tragedy for Iran’ as there are ‘many targets left’ in the country for the U.S. to hit. While the attack was ‘most difficult’ and ‘most lethal’, the U.S was ready to keep bombing. Trump once again claims that what the U.S. military did was something ‘no military in the world’ could do, ‘not even close’, before wrapping up by thanking ‘everybody, and in particular God’. He reminds God that ‘we love you’, and ‘we love our great military’. He signs off with invoking God’s blessings on ‘the Middle East’, ‘Israel’, and finally, ‘America’.

❓ What it means
Trump’s speaking patterns and vocabulary choice shine through here, and it’s clear he wants to paint a picture of a world class American military surgically executing an otherwise unachievable military tactic. He constantly hypes up the work of the military, claiming more than once that nobody else could have done what they did, and justifies it by declaring Iran’s historical actions as worthy of this attack. This is critical because in this case, the U.S. strike is not in retaliation to a recent or direct Iranian attack, rather it is being couched in terms of a long-time-coming strategy.

Trump also remembers to thank his Israeli counterpart, who is actively engaged in military action with Iran both directly and through proxy in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, and beyond. It further emphasises that this U.S. attack was conducted in close collaboration with, and at the instigation of, Israel. There is no ‘coalition of the willing’ here. This is simply the U.S. and Israel acting as they see fit.

⚠️ Why it matters
Trump has always known who his audience is and has never once wavered from that audience. However, this particular speech is unique — he’s balancing considerations of both American Isolationists (i.e. Americans who believe America should focus on domestic ‘America First’ issues and limit it’s foreign interventions) and American Primacists (i.e. Americans who believe America must lead globally, specifically militarily).

The speech, therefore, is more about placating local pressures rather than any specific global projection of American policy. American foreign policy has not changed in the last 50 years, but what is certain is that it is now increasingly being determined by the whims of a president who focuses solely on what his voter base will likely vote on. Historically, Trump has railed against America’s ‘endless wars’ in the region, however this strike in Iran that he authorised is also an indication that as much as Isolationists put him in power, he needs the Primacists to stay there.

🇮🇷 KHAMENEI.IR: Statement "Iran must surrender" is too big for the US president's mouth; Zionist regime crushed under Iran’s blows [link]

📢 What Khamenei.ir is saying
The Ayatollah’s speech is translated and transcribed into English, but it is unlikely that anything has been lost in translation. The speech overwhelmingly features invocations of God’s blessings on Iran alongside anti-Israel and anti-U.S. statements. The speech attempts at painting both Israel and the U.S. as hypocrites, determined to destroy the great and ancient nation of Iran.

1. 📸 Visuals

A single image is used for this article as well, showing the Ayatollah sitting in front of a brown curtain with a large Iranian flag to his right. He is dressed in a black turban and black and grey robes. On his nose sit his glasses, and his long white beard is neatly clipped and shaped. He is mid-speech, and is looking straight into the camera.

2. ✍🏽 Words

The headline declares Khamenei’s intention immediately, saying that Trump is making statements ‘too big for the US president’s mouth’, while also claiming the ‘Zionist regime’ has been defeated.

However, just before the transcription starts, a short statement provides context of the speech, saying it follows the ‘Zionist regime’s attacks on Iran’, which preceded the ‘victory of the Iranian nation’.

The speech starts out with an invocation to God, followed by ‘greetings’ and ‘best wishes’ to the people of Iran. Immediately, Khamenei honours ‘the memory of the esteemed martyrs from recent events’. He then says he finds it ‘necessary’ to congratulate the ‘great nation of Iran’ for ‘several reasons’, which he outlines below. The first reason is because of ‘victory over the fallacious Zionist regime’. He states that the ‘Zionist regime’ was ‘knocked out and crushed’ by the ‘blows’ of Iran, despite all the ‘commotion’, insisting that ‘such blows’ were unimaginable to Israel, having ‘never even crossed their minds’. He continues along this vein for a while, proclaiming Iran’s ‘advanced weaponry’, calling it ‘one of the greatest divine blessings’.

His ‘second congratulations’ is for ‘Iran’s victory over the US regime’. Khamenei states that the reason the Americans ‘entered the war directly’ was because if they hadn’t ‘the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed’. Yet, this intervention ‘achieved nothing’. The attack on Iran by the U.S. ‘warrants an independent criminal prosecution in an international court’ according to Khamenei. He claims Trump ‘used a bizarre exaggeration’ to describe the American attack, which Khamenei claims is because the Americans ‘failed to achieve their intended goal’. Instead, Iran ‘delivered a heavy slap to the US’s face’. He comments on Iran’s attack on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, saying that the Americans tried to ‘downplay this one’. He reminds the reader that if aggression against Iran occurs, the aggressor ‘will definitely pay a heavy price’.

His final congratulations is for how Iranians ‘stood together as one’, demonstrating ‘its greatness and its distinguished, exceptional character’. He then speaks to Trump’s calling for Iran’s surrender, claiming that ‘the issue isn’t about enrichment or the nuclear industry anymore’. He calls the statement ‘a mockery’, but claims that it ‘revealed a certain reality’ about the U.S. who have been ‘actively opposing and trying to harm’ Iran since the revolution of 1979. He claims that each pretext, whether on ‘human rights’, on ‘defending democracy’, on ‘women’s rights’, on ‘uranium enrichment’, or on ‘the nuclear issue itself’ that the U.S. has used has all been to get ‘Iran to surrender’, something ‘never openly stated’ by previous U.S. presidents. ‘This person let the truth out’, says Khamenei, referring to Trump, saying that ‘the conflict with the US is over this point’, calling it ‘greatly insulting’ to the people of Iran. ‘It will never happen’, Khamenei insists. He ends with praising the historical and cultural wealth of Iran, before calling on God to bless Iran once again.

❓ What it means
If Trump’s speech was speaking to his base, then Khamenei’s speech is even more so. There are many verbose statements and claims made by Khamenei on how successful Iran’s protection of it’s nuclear facilities has been, alongside how devastating it’s own attacks on Israel and the Al Udeid Air Base have been. Everything seems to be dialled up to 11.

Despite this, the Ayatollah does spend a lot of time reframing the intentions behind the attacks on its nuclear facilities. He positions the U.S.’s focus on being solely to get Iran to ‘surrender’, the meaning of which is not fully explained. But it is a strongly emotional hook to justify his own regime’s behaviour. His speech strategically only brings up this point after he speaks about the united front that Iranians showed after the Israeli attacks. This can be perceived as Khamenei claiming that the Iranian people find his rule and the rule of the Iranian government justified and support it.

It’s important to note here how his speech ties this back to historical U.S. interference in the country. His speech leaves out Trump’s call for ‘regime change’ that Trump posted online after the American bombing, instead framing everything through the ‘surrender of Iran’ lens.

⚠️ Why it matters
The speech cleverly groups topics like human rights, women’s rights, and democracy as ‘pretexts’ used by the Americans to attack Iran alongside the topics of uranium enrichment, nuclear power, and missile development. This framing helps the Ayatollah dismiss all the topics as equally ludicrous issues invented by the Americans to justify their own behaviour. With this, the speech tries to remove the agency of Iranian citizens who might feel strongly about these issues, instead putting the nexus of power with the Americans. It’s his way of saying that Iranians who are caught up with these issues are simply being manipulated and influenced by the Americans, and that these issues are not only not Iranian, they are also not real.

WHAT’S GOING ON? 

🪖 Who’s Fight Is It Anyway?

One of the best ways to become a better writer, one that I heard all the time when I was learning creative writing, is to ‘show, don’t tell’. Somehow, both Trump and Khamenei have done a lot of telling and no real showing.

Since the speeches dropped (as the kids say), there has been much speculation about the effectiveness of America’s attack. Initially, Trump’s own intelligence chief showed reluctance to admit that Iran was building a nuclear bomb, but that changed soon after Trump publicly criticised her. Similarly, a leaked report from the Pentagon claimed that the American bombs only did superficial damage, delaying Iranian nuclear aspirations by months, instead of the initially claimed decades through total obliteration. This was then criticised by the Trump administration, with Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth publicly calling for an investigation to determine where the leak came from, while calling the intelligence analysis completely false.

Iran, meanwhile, has continued to claim victory against both Israel and the U.S., without specifying what that means. It has also threatened to close the Straits of Hormuz, from which 30% of the world’s and 80% of Asia’s oil and gas is transported.

Surprisingly, both countries have thanked God several times, making one wonder whose side God is on.

Whose stories should we believe? The U.S.? Iran? Or Israel?

The truth, as always, is somewhere in between.
Read widely. Question thoroughly. Decide accordingly.

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Was this forwarded to you? Signpost is a free weekly newsletter analysing what the media says, what it means, and why it matters. It’s free to subscribe. Alternatively, you can add me on LinkedIn.