This essay examines the role of specific Iranian diaspora factions, particularly pro-Pahlavi monarchist networks, in whitewashing the US–Israeli military invasion of Iran. While the Iranian diaspora lacks the structural power to incite war independently, a small, organized minority of diaspora activists has played a significant role in legitimizing foreign intervention by manufacturing moral and narrative consent. Drawing on Bauman’s concept of retrotopia, the essay demonstrates how Persian-language media outlets and coordinated social media campaigns have constructed an idealized image of prerevolutionary Iran that defies historical reality, while actively suppressing the voices of the vast, silent majority of Iranians, who reject foreign military intervention. The argument further contends that the tragic episode of January 8–9, 2026, during which peaceful economic protests turned into armed insurrection following Reza Pahlavi’s public calls to take to the streets, was used by the Iranian diaspora as a pretext to justify military intervention against Iran. The inflated figure of the victims propagated by diaspora media platforms, was later cited by US officials to justify aggression against Iran. The pro-war diaspora’s monopoly on representation, enforced through media gatekeeping, digital harassment, and AI-generated disinformation, has thus helped to sanitize the invasion, making it palatable to Western publics and policymakers.
Zeinab Ghasemi Tari (Mon,) studied this question.