The National · Iran · 28 Aug 2026

Passive voice hides who attacked, the legal stakes go unmentioned, and the civilian cost of sanctions is ignored.

/ 10 · article score

scored on 4 of 11 measures · thin coverage

The double standard

US military actions and coercive claims are attributed to named officials and stated as fact, while Iranian deaths and the killing of the supreme leader are reported in an agentless construction that obscures who carried out the strikes.

How it builds, in Six-month mark paragraph and US pressure paragraphs

Actor named for killing: US and Israel credited
US and Israeli strikes killed Iran's former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Actor fully named for lethal action against Iranian side
Repeat reference drops full actor, uses typo-laden shorthand
the strikes tat killed his father
Actor omitted in follow-up reference to same lethal strikes
US official's aggressive language quoted without challenge
crush the failing Iranian economy
Inflammatory US claim reproduced as direct quote, uncontested
US characterisation of Iran quoted as assertion, not allegation
the corrupt regime continues to squander enormous sums abroad
Pejorative US framing of Iran presented without attribution qualifier
Trump's unverified claim stated without qualification
Iran is completely collapsing
Presidential assertion reproduced without sceptical framing
Iranian claim attributed and contextualised as diplomatic position
pressure doesn't work. The US should build trust, speak respectfully, acknowledge our rights and uphold commitments
Iranian official's claim clearly attributed and framed as one side's view

The same decision, both sides

Whether a coercive or lethal action is attributed to a named actor

The US bombing campaign and naval blockade are described in a noun-phrase construction that names the US as actor without moral framing, treating coercion as a neutral policy instrument.

a bombing campaign and naval blockade failed to reopen the strait

Iranian deaths, specifically the killing of the supreme leader, are reported with the actor named only once and then dropped in the very next sentence, reducing the lethal act to a background fact.

the strikes tat killed his father

Whether a source's claim is granted the benefit of the doubt or hedged

US Treasury Secretary Bessent's characterisation of Iran as a corrupt regime funding terrorist proxies is reproduced verbatim with no distancing language such as 'claimed' or 'alleged'.

the corrupt regime continues to squander enormous sums abroad

Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi's diplomatic position is clearly attributed and implicitly framed as a negotiating stance rather than fact.

Putting diplomacy back on track isn't impossible

What a reader is left with. A reader is left with the impression that US actions, however forceful, are rational policy responses, while Iran is a collapsing, corrupt regime funding terrorists, because US officials' most aggressive language is reproduced without sceptical framing whereas Iranian positions are consistently marked as claims or conditions.

Every highlight is a quote the model flagged. Tap one — or a metric below — to see what it measures and why it scored the way it did.

Aggressor framingSanctions framing

Return to diplomacy 'not impossible', says Araghchi as Iran war hits six-month mark

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a return to diplomacy to end the war with the US was not "impossible", with the conflict still unresolved as it reached the six-month mark on Friday. He spoke after a meeting with <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/gulf/2026/08/27/qatar-pm-heads-to-tehran-seeking-to-discuss-strait-of-hormuz/" target="_blank" rel="" title="https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/gulf/2026/08/27/qatar-pm-heads-to-tehran-seeking-to-discuss-strait-of-hormuz/">Qatar's Prime Minister</a> and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, who travelled to Tehran on Thursday in a bid to revive negotiations. They discussed efforts to ensure de-escalation and a return to dialogue, Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. "Putting diplomacy back on track isn't impossible," Mr Araghchi said in a post on X. "It hinges on US understanding of one simple fact: pressure doesn't work. The US should build trust, speak respectfully, acknowledge our rights and uphold commitments." While direct military confrontation between Iran and the US has largely subsided, the Strait of Hormuz remains a sticking point of the conflict. Tehran continues to claim control of the waterway, while the US maintains its maritime blockade on Iranian ports – a stand-off that is sustaining the global energy crisis caused by the war. But diplomatic efforts to end the deadlock have intensified in recent weeks, with Qatar, Oman and Pakistan encouraging Iran to return to talks. Tehran is preparing a list of conditions for the reopening of the strait at the request of mediators, said Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. He told Lebanese channel Al Manar TV on Thursday that Iran had agreed with Oman on a shipping corridor through the strait, with parts of the route in Omani waters and parts in Iranian waters. Ships would use a designated central channel if the US met Iran's conditions, he added. In the six months since US and Israeli strikes killed Iran's former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the growing divisions within the Iranian regime have widened, particularly over its approach to negotiations with Washington. The current supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has not been seen since the strikes tat killed his father. Questions about his health and whereabouts have lingered at a critical time for Iran, as the conflict takes significant toll on the economy. Hardliners and ultraconservatives have demanded to hear from him or to see him, to endorse the diplomatic track. Meanwhile, the US hopes <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/08/25/petrol-queues-deepen-across-iran-as-fuel-shortages-hit-tehran/" target="_blank" rel="" title="https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/08/25/petrol-queues-deepen-across-iran-as-fuel-shortages-hit-tehran/">economic pressure</a> can force Iran into submission and break the deadlock, after a bombing campaign and naval blockade failed to reopen the strait. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/us/2026/08/24/iran-sanctions-d-day-bessent/" target="_blank" rel="" title="https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/us/2026/08/24/iran-sanctions-d-day-bessent/">latest sanctions</a> on Tehran would "crush the failing Iranian economy", after previously criticising the regime for funding regional proxies. "As the Iranian people struggle to afford basic necessities, the corrupt regime continues to squander enormous sums abroad," he wrote on X. "Instead of funnelling billions of dollars to its terrorist proxies, the regime should spend that money for its people." His remarks came after the Treasury Department imposed a new sanctions on Iran and its trade partners this week, in an effort to isolate the country's economy in what Washington has described as “economic D-Day”. “Iran is completely collapsing,” US President Donald Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

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