Following President Donald Trump’s Sunday morning Truth Social post detailing his intent to further break international law by bombing Iran’s power plants and civilian infrastructure, the message sent by numerous critics to White House officials, the US Congress, and US allies was the same: “Act now to stop this lawless war.” That demand was made by Just Security editor and Rutgers University…
Source
The first casualty of war is the truth. This truism — understandably repeated at the outset of each new U.S. war — is proving itself once again. With all evidence pointing toward U.S. responsibility for the February 28 bombing of Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school, President Trump claimed that the attack “was done by Iran.” In spreading this blatant misinformation, Trump was not in fact…
Source
The term “hostage” is broadly understood to be the illegitimate capture of a civilian in order to extract concessions from a government or military actor. A “prisoner of war” is broadly understood to be a combatant captured by an adversary in the course of a battle. The former conveys innocence on the part of the captured and illegitimacy, terrorism and criminality on the part of the capturer. The latter conveys a lawful and reasonable response to being attacked by another military actor. Thus, how and why our media is framing Iran’s response to the unprovoked attack by the US is of tremendous importance: any potential “hostage crisis” could be used to further escalate the conflict and rally public support behind increased military aggression on the part of the US-Israeli coalition.
So it’s noteworthy that the mere potential of a single American being captured by Iran is immediately being framed by western media as an illegitimate act of aggression on the part of the country he or she was bombing. Indeed, several major Western media outlets are already rushing to frame the capture of a prisoner of war as a “hostage”:
Times of London: “US fighter pilot feared to have been taken hostage by Iran”
BBC: “If the airman is taken hostage and images circulated, it will be a propaganda victory for Iran”
ABC News Australia: “If the missing pilot is taken hostage…” “A US pilot taken hostage…”
“US fighter pilot… taken hostage by Iran.” Let us stew in that Orwellian phrasing for a bit. Though they do not explicitly call the downed pilot is a “hostage,” the New York Times dutifully orients his capture squarely
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Saturday demanded “maximum military restraint” from the U.S. and Israel as it confirmed reports that strikes had targeted a location close to Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, killing at least one person. In a statement released via social media, the IAEA relayed a message from Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi…
Source
This story originally appeared in Professor Glenn Diesen’s Substack on April 2, 2026. This shortened, edited version is shared here with permission.
Joe Kent is the former US Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who resigned in March 2026 due to the war against Iran.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent wrote in his letter of resignation to President Donald Trump. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
I recently spoke with Kent about the mistake of attacking Iran and the intrusive influence of Israel over US foreign policy.
[Editor’s Note: The following transcript has been lightly edited for length and readability from the original full conversation, available here]
Joe Kent: As I said in my resignation letter, I believe that Iran posed no imminent threat to us; Iran was not on the cusp of attacking us. Since President Trump came back into office—and people with basic access to the internet can verify this—we watched the Iranians observe a very calculated escalation ladder.
They stopped their proxies from attacking us as they were attacking us under the Biden administration. When Trump came back into office, they sat at the negotiating table with us up until the 12-Day War and Operation Midnight Hammer. Now, mind you, during the 12-Day War, they didn’t attack us at all. Once we attacked them and hit their nuclear sites, they responded by firing an equal amount of missiles as we dropped bombs at a very empty quadrant on a base in Qatar. And then they
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that he is expanding troops’ ability to carry personal firearms on military bases, lifting a longtime ban amid widespread anxiety and low morale among military members due to the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran. “Effectively, our bases across the country were gun-free zones. Unless you’re training, or unless you are a military policeman…
Source