Rhetoric, Identity, and Hegemony: Constructing Khamenei's Counter-Hegemonic Discourse in the 2025 Iran–Israel War
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15575/cjik.v10i1.54897Keywords:
Critical Discourse Analysis, rhetoric of resistance, hegemony, Iran-Israel conflictAbstract
The Iran–Israel conflict in June 2025 demonstrated that contemporary geopolitical struggles take place not only in the military realm but also in the realm of discourse, where meaning, legitimacy, and ideological hegemony are produced and contested through political communication. Although the study of political rhetoric in conflict has advanced, research integrating Critical Discourse Analysis, rhetorical theory, and hegemony theory to examine the rhetoric of political-religious leaders, particularly during acute crisis episodes, remains limited. This study aims to analyze the construction of resistance discourse in Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's rhetoric during the conflict and to uncover the discursive mechanisms linking language to power and ideology. The study employs a qualitative approach based on Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis method, supported by Kenneth Burke's rhetorical theory and Antonio Gramsci's hegemony theory, for 12 of Khamenei's official public statements. The results show that at the textual level, Khamenei constructs Iran's identity as an opponent of Western domination through antagonistic diction and symbolic metaphors. At the level of discursive practice, this rhetoric is circulated by global media to reinforce the narrative of the axis of resistance. At the level of social practice, this rhetoric reproduces anti-imperialist ideology and forms a counter-hegemonic discourse. These findings have theoretical implications for expanding the integrative CDA model and practical implications for understanding the role of media in contemporary geopolitical conflicts
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