Discursive Reinforcement of State Legitimacy: The Role of Iranian Media in Framing the Iran–Israel War

This study is a critical discourse analysis of how Iranian state-aligned media – Tehran Times and Mehr News Agency – discursively construct social legitimacy for the Islamic Republic of Iran during the 2025 Iran–Israel war. Drawing upon the theoretical foundations of legitimacy and legitimisation and utilising the framework of legitimisation strategies and proximisation theory, this research analyses 200 headlines and lead paragraphs from The Tehran Times and Mehr News Agency . Data collection was carried selectively: We solely opted for the headlines and lead paragraphs that portrayed Iran–Israel’s war from a variety of aspects. Through systematic coding and thematisation, the study identifies four major conceptualisations of WE as the focal point is soliciting legitimisation: WE as a united nation, WE as a rightful nation, WE as a wounded nation and WE as a powerful nation. These conceptualisations fall under three representational themes – the representation of the US camp, the representation of the Iran–Israel conflict and the representation of Iran’s retaliation – framing the IRI’s state of national-ideological stance, its affectedness and its preventive-retaliatory posture in the context of an existential threat and national resistance. The study reveals how regimes under duress repurpose conflict as a discursive opportunity to restore fractured trust, reforge ideological cohesion and reassert political credibility for the political system.