Iran loves to play up its self-designated status as leader of the Middle Easts anti-Israeli militant groups. But a headline in todays Iran News, a Tehran-based and state-associated English-language newspapers, takes it a few steps beyond propaganda into something of self-parody.Palestinians Played Key Role in 8-Day War in Gaza, announces the headline, citing Irans foreign minister. That might strike you as an odd statement given that Palestinians played just about every role on Gazas side of the 2008 and 2012 fights with Israel. The implication is apparently that Irans leadership of Gaza is so profound that the fight was really theirs, and the anti-Israel plaudits are for Tehran to disperse.
Irans support for Gaza-based Hamas has included providing some of the longer-range rockets that led Israel to intervene there in November. The conflict left at least 140 Palestinians and five Israelis dead. The Iran News headline is not quite the same up-is-downism of Irans insistence that the Arab Spring, which has weakened Irans reach in the Middle East, is actually a pro-Iranian Islamic Awakening, but its still pretty significant propaganda overreach.
By The Washington Post
