Constructing Iran through Metaphors in US Newspapers

Iran has been constructed as the enemy other of the United States and this has had serious implications at various levels. The way in which Iran has been constructed through various metaphors in American media is the focus of this article. It is argued that applying specific metaphors about Iran and/or US-Iran relations together with their particular articulations have led to representing Iran as the enemy of the United States and this has affected American public attitude towards Iran. On the basis of discourse theory and metaphor theory and by applying metaphorical analysis as an appropriate method, the article shows how major American newspapers, i.e., the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal have made a specific narrative of Iran and its relations with the US possible. The analysis shows how the meaning structure is similar in all three newspaper depite their rather different political attitudes.