“A war in search of a strategy” - Trump-Netanyahu's war with Iran  | The Listening Post

Summary

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Podcast Summary: “A war in search of a strategy” – Trump-Netanyahu’s War with Iran

The Listening Post, Al Jazeera – March 7, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Listening Post dissects how the media has been covering the rapid escalation of war in the Middle East, particularly focusing on the U.S. and Israel’s joint attacks on Iran. The episode critiques both the shifting messaging by American and Israeli officials and the way Western – especially U.S. – media have framed and reported the conflict. It also highlights the near-invisibility of anti-war voices, the lopsided representation of Iranian perspectives, and draws parallels to previous conflicts, especially in Gaza. The episode concludes by turning its critical eye to coverage in the West Bank and the pitfalls of military branding in the digital age.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Framing the Media Landscape

• Principal Actors and Enablers: Coverage starts by identifying the main combatants – the U.S., Israel, Iran – but immediately shifts focus to American news outlets as “enablers,” questioning whether their coverage sometimes not only reports, but drives war narratives.
  • “Even mainstream media outlets in the US… have reliably served as tools of public persuasion in previous American wars, have been struggling… they focus on the tactics rather than the strategic side.” (00:28)
• Absence of Anti-War Voices: There’s criticism of the almost complete absence of anti-war representation in legacy outlets and skewed Iranian representation.
  • “Anti war voices are almost completely absent. Iranian representation has been skewed.” (00:50)

2. Lack of Clear Strategy — Media Reflects the Chaos

• Incoherence at the Top: American and Israeli officials shift reasons for the war in real-time, offering constantly changing justifications: regime change, nuclear prevention, democracy promotion—all within hours.
  • “This is a war in search of a strategy. Eliminate the intolerable threats...regime change...prevent nukes...” (02:27–02:46)
• Media’s Struggle to Frame the Narrative: The lack of a coherent government strategy leads media to focus on superficial aspects, failing to contextualize or question deeper motives.
  • “In the absence of a strategy, how do you frame a coherent message through the news media?” (02:58)

3. American Media’s Double Standard & War Reporting

• Poor Foreign Policy Scrutiny: U.S. mainstream outlets praised for domestic coverage fall short on foreign policy.
  • “They hold truth to power… But when it comes to US foreign policy… [they] can’t do an objective job.” – Media Analyst/Journalist (04:11)
• Recurring Demonization: Western reporting often frames Iran using historical analogies ("Nazi Germany"), demonizing ordinary Iranians, the majority of current casualties.
  • “Iran is Nazi Germany, essentially...the majority of people… being killed… are Iranian civilians.” – Expert/Retired Military Critic (04:29)
• Parallels with Gaza: The playbook of questionable attribution, disinformation, and skewed reporting used during the Gaza conflict now appears in Iran coverage.
  • “The similarities to the Western media’s coverage of the Gaza genocide are unmistakable.” (05:02)
  • Notable quote: “The disinformation playbook the Israelis have used in Gaza is now being applied in Iran.” (05:35)

4. Selective Outrage and Disparate Standards

• Civilian Casualties Downplayed: The U.S./Israel missile strike that killed over 160 Iranian schoolgirls is reported in speculative, attenuated ways. If this were in Israel or Ukraine, coverage would be radically different.
  • “If a school was attacked, for example, in Israel… or Russia had done this in Ukraine, coverage would have been so, so different.” – Media Analyst (06:23)
• Disproportionate Focus on Western Narratives: While Iranian and Palestinian suffering is downplayed, the West’s actions are justified or obscured.

5. The Business of War — Media’s Role

• Media Profiteering from Conflict: Coverage is compared to video games, complete with graphics and “expert generals,” prioritizing entertainment value over investigation.
  • “Many American media see it like a video game… war for them is big business. They love it.” – Expert/Retired Military Critic (07:34)

6. Internal Contradictions and Political Fallout

• Trump’s Eroding “Peace President” Image: Trump’s promise not to start forever wars is at odds with the broad bombardment campaign, a contradiction hard to finesse even for supportive outlets.
  • “However hard [Trump and Netanyahu] spin it, that is a tough contradiction to sell to Americans…” (00:50)
• Division Among Trump’s Base and Right-Wing Voices: Online right-wing agitators and some Trump supporters are openly critical.
  • “You had Nick Fuentes and Alex Jones… near tears. This is really a disaster. For their base.” (08:59)
  • “Trump is not doing immigration… basically giving the government to Israel…” (09:19)

7. Influence of Diaspora Voices & War Advocacy

• Amplifying Pro-War Iranian Diaspora: Figures like Reza Pahlavi and activist Masih Alinejad, both advocating intervention, are highly visible, compared to anti-intervention or dissenting Iranian voices.
  • “One of the most prominent pro war voices… Reza Pahlavi… exposure he has used to boost his political profile.” (12:20)
  • Notable quote: “Finish the job.” – Masih Alinejad, on Fox News (13:01)

8. Skewed Representation & Controlled Narratives

• War Propaganda in War Time: Mainstream media’s tendency to showcase only pro-intervention Iranians or manipulate the spectrum of opinion is reminiscent of pre-Iraq war coverage.
  • “Three voices from Iran who seem to all be celebrating… to leave the impression that is the entire viewpoint inside Iran… is getting close to Iraq level war propaganda.” – Analyst (13:31)
• Pattern of Legacy Media Falling in Line: Critique that Western media too often help “reframe wars of aggression as wars of liberation.” (13:47)

9. Other Fronts: West Bank and Press Freedom

• Worsening Crackdown on Palestinians: As attention shifts to Iran, Israel’s ongoing annexation, violence, and suppression in the West Bank intensify; journalists face grave risk.
  • “The Israelis have accelerated their policy… chopping it up and annexing more land… soldiers have grown more aggressive… more Palestinians are being forced forward from their homes…” (13:59)

10. Media Literacy in the Digital Age & Naming Wars

• “Epic Fury” Turned Against Itself Online: The Pentagon’s dramatic operation name backfires as online critics mock and subvert it, demonstrating the limits of legacy propaganda in the social media age.
  • “Did the Pentagon consider… critics online… just turn it into Operation Epic Chaos or Epic Failure?... there will be return fire. And in this case, it landed.” (21:55)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Media Framing:
  • “Why is attacking US military bases abroad justified?” – Critic/Anti-war Commentator (03:43)
  • “I think that question… is really the embodiment of how US media can’t do a professional and objective job when it comes to foreign policy reporting.” – Media Analyst/Journalist (03:49)
• On War Reporting and Media Bias:
  • “The disinformation playbook the Israelis have used in Gaza is now being applied in Iran.” – Analyst/Commentator (05:35)
  • “If this would have happened anywhere else, it would have been on the front cover of every news outlet… touting this lie that the IRGC has somehow done this themselves.” – Critic/Anti-War Commentator (05:47)
• On Internal Contradictions:
  • “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier.” – Donald Trump/Supporter audio montage (08:34)
  • “Trump is not doing immigration…basically giving the government to Israel.” (09:19)
• On Manufacturing Consent:
  • "You had three voices from Iran who seem to all be celebrating and happy about the country getting bombed...is getting close to Iraq level war propaganda and war lies." – Analyst/Commentator (13:31)
• On Digital Backlash:
  • “Operation Epic Fury… there will be return fire. And in this case, it landed.” (21:55)

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Timestamps of Important Segments

• 00:28 – Framing the media apparatus around the Iran war
• 02:27–04:00 – Lack of strategy and shifting messaging, media's response
• 04:11–05:02 – Limits of U.S. media; Western media’s “Nazi Germany” framing
• 05:02–06:42 – Coverage of school attack; double standards and disinformation
• 07:02–07:47 – War as media “big business”; the video game mentality
• 08:34–09:48 – Trump’s shifting image, right-wing backlash, and Israel’s influence
• 12:20–13:47 – Diaspora influence; biased platforming of pro-war Iranians
• 13:59–15:27 – Focus shifts to West Bank & dangers facing Palestinian journalists
• 21:55 – Operation “Epic Fury” branding and social media backlash

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Summary Takeaways

• The episode offers a scathing analysis of the Western media’s role in shaping, supporting, and sometimes driving pro-war narratives.
• The lack of coherent strategy from U.S. and Israeli policymakers is reflected in the coverage, which prioritizes tactics and spectacle over substance.
• Deep skepticism is shown toward the representation of Iranian voices, with diaspora “successor” figures and pro-interventionists dominating airwaves at the cost of diversity and dissent.
• The hosts and analysts warn that legacy media outlets are abdicating their responsibilities, leaving pushback to independent and online voices.
• Attention is drawn to the continuing crisis in the West Bank, where media focus is fleeting and the risks to journalists are extreme.
• The final segment underlines the limits of official war propaganda in an age where online citizens can just as easily dismantle and reframe the dominant narrative.

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Transcript

[Narrator/Host]

This week on the take, we're marking one year since a pair of devastating earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria with a new digital interactive. Listen and watch stories of survival, recovery and coping with the grief@al jazeera.com earthquakes again, that's al jazeera.com earthquakes

[Analyst/Commentator]

when examining the media side of the attack on Iran and the war that has spread across the Middle east, where does one begin? With the principal actors, the U.S. israel and the Islamic Republic, or the enablers, the American news outlets reporting on the story and sometimes driving it. The Nepo Shah in waiting, Reza Pahlavi, finish the job. And the other voices from the diaspora egging the Americans and the Israelis on. And lest we forget, the West Bank, a Palestinian journalist's take on the Israeli settlers and soldiers and what journalism there is up against. One week into the war that the US And Israel launched against Iran, the casualties now include the Islamic Republic's leader, Ayatollah Ali KHAMENEI, More than 150 schoolgirls in the southern part of the country, as well as Iran's relationship with the Gulf states and the very notion of international law. The Middle east has been engulfed. With missiles crisscrossing in the sky in Washington, the messaging on this war, the justifications offered, keep changing. Even mainstream media outlets in the US the corporate kind that have reliably served as tools of public persuasion in previous American wars, have been struggling with that. So they focus on the tactics rather than the strategic side of this. The cause. Anti war voices are almost completely absent. Iranian representation has been skewed. After his repeated promises that he would be America's peace President Donald Trump has now bombed eight countries from South America to Africa and the Middle East. And however hard he and his partner in war crimes, Benjamin Netanyahu, spin it, that is a tough contradiction to sell to Americans, let alone the rest of the world.

[Political Figure/Voice of Trump Supporter]

This is a war in search of a strategy. Eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime aimed at toppling the regime. One hour.

[Analyst/Commentator]

It is time to end the Islamic

[Political Figure/Voice of Trump Supporter]

Republic, destroying the nuclear program.

[Analyst/Commentator]

Another hour, we have to prevent Iran

[Political Figure/Voice of Trump Supporter]

from getting nukes, creating an Iranian democracy or something. The other hour. There is no coherent strategy. And you can see that's reflected in the media coverage of it.

[Analyst/Commentator]

Because in the absence of a strategy, how do you frame a coherent message through the news media? Do you try what Donald Trump did and present yourself as the savior of the Iranian people as you rain missiles down on them?

[Political Figure/Voice of Trump Supporter]

When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours. To take.

[Analyst/Commentator]

That's a tough sell. Or do you take the Israeli approach and hit them with an AI modified version of Benjamin Netanyahu telling Iranians in Persian that freedom awaits. But on the messaging, the US and Israel can at least count on this, that many of the messengers in the American media are there to help.

[Critic/Anti-War Commentator]

Why is attacking US military bases abroad justified?

[Analyst/Commentator]

But because they are, they are attacking us.

[Media Analyst/Journalist]

I think that question from the NBC anchor is really the embodiment of how US media can't do a professional and objective job when it comes to foreign policy reporting.

[Analyst/Commentator]

Now Iran is firing missiles at Arab countries, and I mean, if any other country did that, I think there'd be a huge human outcry.

[Media Analyst/Journalist]

They do a good job on domestic issues. They hold truth to power and question the highest office in the country. But when it comes to US foreign policy, especially in the Middle east, especially with Israel, US mainstream media, the old guards, the gatekeepers, can't do an objective job.

[Expert/Retired Military or Media Critic]

The language which we often see in the Western media, particularly the US around Iran, is generally framed in a certain way. Iran is Nazi Germany, essentially. This is not to defend the Iranian regime by any means, but the fact is that the majority of people who are being killed at the moment are Iranian civilians. But ultimately, much of the Western press demonized them without even speaking to them. And this was happening before Iran for two and a half years. Genocide in Gaza and Israeli war crime.

[Analyst/Commentator]

The similarities to the Western media's coverage of the Gaza genocide are unmistakable. Take that missile strike on the school in southern Iran that killed more than 160 civilians, most of them schoolgirls aged seven to 12. An attack the UN called the grave violation of humanitarian law. At the time of this recording, neither the US nor Israel had owned up to that attack, which apparently targeted a nearby, nearby barracks of the irgc, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

[Expert/Retired Military or Media Critic]

Because we don't actually know for a

[Analyst/Commentator]

fact yet what happened with that school. The disinformation playbook the Israelis have used in Gaza is now being applied in Iran. And too many Western media outlets have played along.

[Critic/Anti-War Commentator]

If this would have happened anywhere else, it would have been on the front cover of every news outlet. And the way that it was reported was that we can't verify what happened.

[Analyst/Commentator]

The reports that this may have been an IRGC missile that fell short need

[Critic/Anti-War Commentator]

to be taken seriously, really touting this lie, that the IRGC has somehow done this themselves. And we saw this exact same pattern happen in Gaza. And that is what is really just dizzying. The same lazy flattened reporting that we saw in Gaza. When it comes to the war on

[Media Analyst/Journalist]

Iran, the coverage has been very skewed, lacks objectivity. It's covered a third person that it's not clear who attacked it, and it's just unthinkable. If a school was attacked, for example, in Israel, or if this was something that Russia had done in Ukraine, the coverage would have been so, so different. And we've seen so many examples of this.

[Narrator/Host]

Ukrainian officials say as many as 90 people were taking shelter in the school's base.

[Media Analyst/Journalist]

It shows the mainstream media industry in the US Is in the shadows of the foreign policy apparatus in Washington. And it's not just about Iran today or Israel, Gaza. This goes all the way back to, for example, the invasion of Iraq.

[Expert/Retired Military or Media Critic]

And much of the American media frames their coverage around that mentality because war is big business, war sells, war gets eyeballs. And there's a reason why the CBS News and others are pivoting towards a much more hawkish, hardline, pro Israel, pro American empire worldview.

[Analyst/Commentator]

This operation, which the Pentagon is calling epic fury, is also epically complex. Let's bring in retired Admiral Mark Montgomery, who served 32 years in the Navy as a.

[Expert/Retired Military or Media Critic]

Many American media see it like a video game. That's how they portray it. From the graphics on the screen to who they speak to, to interviewing generals. War for them is big business. They love it.

[Analyst/Commentator]

In the battle for American hearts and minds, however, the polls show that Donald Trump is losing largely because of two questions that plague him. There's one that goes back decades, that Israel is driving US Policy. Even Fox News addressed that lobbing a question at Benjamin Netanyahu, whose chuckling response will have unsettled more Americans than it convinced. You know, there are people that say, well, the Prime Minister of Israel dragged Donald Trump into it. I want to get your reaction to that. That's ridiculous. Donald Trump is the strongest leader in the world. The other narrative is one of Donald Trump's own making, that he is a peace president who would not start new forever wars.

[Political Figure/Voice of Trump Supporter]

My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier.

[Analyst/Commentator]

But Trump knows that once he starts a war, he won't get that much flack from legacy news outlets, since supporting American wars of the past is part of their legacy. The pushback is coming from independent voices online and they are attracting audiences from both the liberal left and the MAGA right.

[Political Figure/Voice of Trump Supporter]

You had Nick Fueches and Alex Jones on the Internet yesterday, their big, huge right wing hosts. They were almost near tears. This is really a disaster. For their base.

[Analyst/Commentator]

You're already there saying, vote Democrat. What the hell's going on here? I think you have to vote Democrat in 26, and I'll tell you why.

[Political Figure/Voice of Trump Supporter]

According to Nick Fuentes, Trump is not doing immigration. He's not standing up to the left, really, and he's basically giving the government to Israel. And you see Marco Rubio in a moment of idiotic candor saying, we had to do it because of Israel.

[Analyst/Commentator]

We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces.

[Political Figure/Voice of Trump Supporter]

The administration later realized what a flub that was and tried to walk it back, but it was too late.

[Critic/Anti-War Commentator]

The pushback that we're seeing is coming from within the Make America great Again tent, because this isn't what they were sold, right? They were sold that we wouldn't put our troops in harm's way when we. We know that this is Israel's war.

[Analyst/Commentator]

Our government's job is not to look

[Narrator/Host]

out for Iran or for Israel.

[Critic/Anti-War Commentator]

So Americans are very aware of what is going on here. Unfortunately, you're not hearing from them much on legacy media.

[Analyst/Commentator]

One week into this war, what sets it apart, even from something as horrifying as Israel's genocide on Gaza, is the rapid geographical spread of the field of battle. The eight countries hit since the initial attack on Iran, the more than 1300 people killed, the key industries from the oil business to shipping to airline traffic, damaged. With international law already exposed in Gaza, now effectively eviscerated, all in just seven days, news organizations are stretched to their limits, challenged in ways they haven't been before. And the early returns on the journalism do not look promising.

[Critic/Anti-War Commentator]

The big strategy here from the Trump administration is just to dizzy all of us. It is very difficult to understand what is going on because it's so chaotic. But we know what this is about. It's about crippling Iran, its infrastructure, its military, crippling it politically. What the US Wants out of Iran is. Is not democracy. The United States wants a client state like it has in Syria, like it has in Lebanon, like it has in other countries. That's what they want in Iran.

[Expert/Retired Military or Media Critic]

The language that much of the Western press uses is, we in the west, even if we launch these wars, we are the innocent bystanders. We're just doing our best. It's not easy. Running an empire is very tiring. You know, give us some slack, please, people. But ultimately, the devils are the Hamas leadership of Gaza or the Iranian leadership. It's deeply racist and unacceptable, but not

[Analyst/Commentator]

New Staying with Iran the U. S. Israeli bombing campaign has exposed some sharp divisions among Iranians both inside the country and across the diaspora and on Western news outlets. One side of that divide is being amplified far more than the other. Meenakshiravi has been tracking the coverage.

[Narrator/Host]

One of the most prominent pro war voices seen across Western media has been Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the shah, overthrown in the 1979 revolution. Pahlavi has been interviewed across a range of outlets. Exposure he has used to boost his political profile. Once the operation began, he appeared on Fox News praising President Trump and presenting himself as a successor in waiting.

[Analyst/Commentator]

I am leading this transition. I have the support of millions of Iranian people.

[Narrator/Host]

A clear pattern has emerged in Western especially American war coverage. Voices advocating U. S. Israeli intervention are being given disproportionate airtime. One of the most prominent among them is Iranian activist Masi Ali Nijad, a polarizing figure.

[Critic/Anti-War Commentator]

This is the message that Iranians want me to send to President Trump. Do not leave us alone with this wounded, murderous regime. Finish the job.

[Narrator/Host]

The tendency to seek pro intervention, pro war voices is not, however, limited to the diaspora. After the BBC aired a segment featuring three Iranians in Tehran, all of whom expressed support for the military action, Trita Parsi, an Iranian born political analyst based in Washington D.C. had this to say.

[Analyst/Commentator]

You had three voices from Iran who seem to all be celebrating and happy about the country getting bombed. I'm sure there are views of that kind, undoubtedly. But to leave the impression that that is the entire viewp inside of Iran is getting close to Iraq level war propaganda and war lies.

[Narrator/Host]

Frankly, when the United States and its allies go to war, the media ecosystems around them too often fall into line, building narratives and finding voices that help reframe wars of aggression as wars of liberation.

[Analyst/Commentator]

Thanks, Mina. For almost two and a half years now, the eyes of the world have been trained on the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Now there's the Iran story to contend with. Far too little attention has been paid to another territory where Israel exercises near total control, the occupied West Bank. The Israelis have accelerated their policy of fragmenting the west bank, chopping it up and annexing more land. Their soldiers have grown more aggressive. The settlers there, shielded by the army, are more emboldened and violent than ever. Refugee camps have been destroyed. More and more Palestinians are being forced forward from their homes. There are hundreds of new checkpoints and barriers making free movement impossible for citizens and journalists alike. And as in Gaza, Israeli forces have their sights trained on journalists who already do their work. Under dangerous conditions. One journalist who has covered it all is Amid Shahada, a correspondent for Al Arabi tv. Shahada's reporting is bold, frequently fearful, fearlessly putting him in harm's way. We spoke with Amit Shahade about reporting under fire in the West Bank.

[Political Figure/Voice of Trump Supporter]

Her.

[Analyst/Commentator]

Ishijamil masra fen the coffee ishi lakarius. Mustahil mustache. Moliha. Israel.

[Expert/Retired Military or Media Critic]

Whom.

[Analyst/Commentator]

Alazaman. Talakatum. Film. And finally, back to Iran and the branding of the US Military operation there as Operation Epic Fury. Did the Pentagon consider how easy it would be for its critics online to take that name and mess with it, to just turn it into Operation Epic Chaos or Epic Failure? And given that so many Americans see the attack on Iran as a way to distract attention away from another story that poses an existential threat to Donald Trump's presidency, why would the administration sign off on a name that could be so simply morphed into Operation Epstein Fury? The people at the White House can bombard Americans with messaging until the cows come home, but in the age of the Internet, there will be return fire. And in this case, it landed.