Iranian state newspaper Hamshahri published an aggressive front page on Tuesday threatening attacks against a range of targets throughout Europe. On the front page a man in an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps uniform stares at a map of Europe with 15 targets marked across countries stretching from Portugal to Romania. Notably RAF Fairford appears as a possible target of the IRGC. RAF Fairford was the site of a failed IRGC terror attack in September.
The bases mostly comprise major US installations with the remainder comprising major NATO bases. Included on the list is Germany's Ramstein Air Base and Italy's NAS Sigonella, both of which serve as major logistics hubs. Although the map does not explicitly state that these bases will be attacked, it highlights them as potential targets for the IRGC. Hamshahri is published by the municipality of Tehran and has been linked to hardline factions.
Left out here: Leaves out what changes the picture
The article does not say that the Iranian warnings that day were framed as a response in the event of renewed conflict or a threat against Iran. Without it a reader may take the map as a threat of attacks Iran would start.
The cover was published the night after the US struck Iranian targets on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, coinciding with the US midterm elections. What do strikes on Iran before the midterms mean? Suggested articles Trump: Netanyahu and I have agreed that by the end of the year, we are stopping to pay Israel | LIVE BLOG | i24NEWS Israel warns the US that Iran is considering chemical weapons use - report | i24NEWS Iran's Parliament Speaker is rumored to have met with Iraqi militia leaders in recent days | i24NEWS, Alex Schloss
i24News reports an Iranian newspaper's map of US and NATO bases in Europe, but its headline puts a quotation, 'We'll see what happens', in marks when nobody in the article says it. The outlet states as fact that RAF Fairford was the site of a failed IRGC terror attack, when its own earlier report gave this as a UK government accusation about a foiled plot whose suspects were released on bail.
States one side's claim as fact
Serious
“RAF Fairford was the site of a failed IRGC terror attack in September.”
Why this matters
In its own voice i24News states that the IRGC carried out a terror attack at RAF Fairford that failed.
The impression it gives
The reader believes it is established fact that the IRGC attempted an attack on the base.
The context
The outlet's own earlier report gave this as an accusation by the UK Prime Minister, who said a foiled plot was 'almost certainly directed' by the IRGC, and reported that the five people arrested were released on bail. That was a government claim about a plot, not an established IRGC attack.
In October the UK Prime Minister said a plot at RAF Fairford, foiled in September, was 'almost certainly directed' by the IRGC; the five people arrested were released on bail.
Headline goes beyond the article
Minor
“'We'll see what happens'”
Why this matters
The headline opens with the words 'We'll see what happens' in quotation marks, as if someone said them.
The impression it gives
The reader believes the Hamshahri front page or an Iranian official spoke these words as a threat against bases in Europe.
The context
No sentence in the body quotes these words or says who said them. The body describes only a map with marked targets and says the map does not explicitly state that the bases will be attacked.
How we know
Elsewhere in the article“the map does not explicitly state that these bases will be attacked”
The article does not say that the Iranian warnings that day were framed as a response in the event of renewed conflict or a threat against Iran. Without it a reader may take the map as a threat of attacks Iran would start.