AhlulBayt News Agency: The head of Iran’s Basij Organization has said the Islamic Republic’s victory against adversaries on the battlefield must be complemented by victory in the battle of narratives.
Hossein Taeb made the remarks on Tuesday, addressing a meeting of the policy council of True Promise in the Mirror of Art, an international event aimed at addressing artistic representations of the Islamic Republic’s retaliatory operations in the face of foreign aggression.
Over the past years, Iran has staged multiple editions of concerted, decisive, and successful retaliatory strikes in the face of American and Israeli aggression under the codename Operation True Promise.
According to the official, an account of an important military development should include both the circumstances that precede it and its consequences. “When narrating an important incident or event, one cannot focus solely on the event itself while ignoring what preceded and followed it. If True Promise is to be narrated as an important historical and military event, the circumstances that led to its formation, the conditions under which the operation took place, and its consequences must also be taken into consideration,” he noted.
Taeb noted that amid the foreign aggression that warranted implementation of the True Promise operations, Iran was also facing soft and perceptual warfare aimed at manipulating the public opinion worldwide against the Islamic Republic’s favor.
“In soft warfare, efforts are made to change the place of love and hatred in society’s mind. In other words, society is encouraged to become indifferent to its own values and develop an interest in foreign values,” he said, adding, “Therefore, the principal battlefield of soft warfare is the human mind and perception.”
The official noted how al-Aqsa Flood, a heroic resistance operation taking place in October 2023, “demonstrated that, despite all its equipment, this structure (the Zionist regime) was vulnerable.” “As a result, part of Israel’s intelligence and operational prestige collapsed at that stage.”
He reminded how instances of wholesale aggression that was staged by the regime following the operation, targeted civilians, including children, women, patients, and families, stressing that artists had to convey these realities.
Taeb also referenced the latest round of unprovoked aggression that was waged by the United States and the Israeli regime against Iran, reminding how the aggressors deployed extensive military capabilities against the Islamic Republic, while the country demonstrated the importance of popular resilience and social cohesion.
“The Iranian nation became more cohesive under wartime conditions, many differences receded, and people came together around [the imperative of] defending the country,” he said.
Taeb also referred to developments concerning the Strait of Hormuz. He reminded how some countries had tried to facilitate illegal maritime traffic through the waterway using naval and air escort only to face Iranian resistance.
The official addressed the role played by those shaping veritable narratives of such developments, saying, “An event may occur on the military battlefield, but if we are unable to narrate it, the enemy will attempt to interpret that event to its own advantage.”
“Therefore, victory on the military battlefield must be complemented by victory in the battle of narratives,” he stated.
The Basij chief called on Iranian artists to use cinema, theater, visual arts, poetry, music, and fiction to truly present the realities of war and resistance to global audiences.
“Today, artists must enter the stage of perceptual offense,” Taeb said, calling for relevant research-based and professional artistic production.
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