The United States of America and the Construction of the Perception of the Threat From the Islamic Republic of Iran in Terms of Terrorism

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Corresponding Author: PhD Student in Regional Studies, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 PhD Student in Islamic Revolution Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

This article examines the approach of the United States of America in creating and constructing a perception of the threat from the Islamic Republic of Iran on the subject of terrorism and extending this perception to security-building audiences. The hypothesis is that the United States is leveraging terrorist charges against Iran in order to restore international consensus and legitimize actions and pressures against Iran. In this regard, the United States, as a security-building player, is trying to extending its security and threatening perception of Iran to the security-building audience within the framework of a "two-level (layer) strategy". In the first level; The United States is trying to persuade its security-building audience by focusing on terrorist charges against Iran in third countries. At the second level; By taking an aggressive approach, the United States has sought to establish and apply countermeasures (ranging from calling the Revolutionary Guards and allied forces terrorist to collaborating with terrorist groups against Iran) and supporting its allies in countering this threat. The research findings show that although the United States has been relatively successful in the first level of the threat- building (persuasion) strategy, it has not been able to gain the necessary support from the security audience in the second level (the threat relief solution). The method used in this article is descriptive-analytical and the tools of libraries, documents, electronic resources and websites and statements of relevant authorities have been used to collect data.

Keywords

References

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Defense Policy
Volume 31, Issue 118 - Serial Number 1
Spring Quarterly
June 2022
Pages 167-198

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History

  • Receive Date: 05 April 2021
  • Revise Date: 08 September 2021
  • Accept Date: 30 May 2022

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