As the Iran war rages, Israel continues killing senior Iranian figures. This is how they do it.
Analysis Summary
This article, while appearing to be standard news, leans heavily on authority figures from Israel and uses us-vs-them framing to persuade readers that Israel's strategic targeted assassinations of Iranian officials are effective and rational. It wants you to view these actions as a calculated way to destabilize the Iranian regime and potentially lead to new leadership, largely omitting broader legal or ethical considerations of such operations and focusing on strategic efficacy.
Cross-Outlet PSYOP Detected
This article is part of a narrative being pushed across multiple outlets:
FATE Analysis
Four dimensions of psychological manipulation: how content captures Focus, exploits Authority, triggers Tribal identity, and engineers Emotion.
Focus signals
"Since the U.S. and Israel launched their strikes on Iran at the end of February, the Israeli military has announced the killings of a number of top Iranian officials, from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war to the spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Friday."
The framing of these strikes, especially the killing of a Supreme Leader, suggests an extraordinary and significant development, capturing immediate attention by highlighting the magnitude of the events.
Authority signals
"according to Glen Segell, an academic and political analyst based in Israel with a background in operations and information security."
The article frequently relies on the insights of Glen Segell, whose 'background in operations and information security' and academic affiliation are highlighted to lend weight to his explanations of intelligence gathering.
"Mark Cancian, a retired U.S. colonel and senior adviser with the CSIS think tank's Defense and Security Department, told CBS News."
Cancian's military background and affiliation with a prominent think tank are used to establish his authority on military strategy and intelligence operations, bolstering the article's claims about Israeli capabilities.
"retired four-star U.S. Army Gen. Joseph Votel told CBS News"
Gen. Votel's high military rank and experience are presented as definitive sources for understanding the strategic focus of U.S. operations in the region.
Tribe signals
"It's a problem for the Iranian regime that new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei may have alluded to Friday, saying in a statement shared on social media that 'security must be taken away from internal and external enemies' of the Islamic Republic."
This quote, while reported, implicitly reinforces an 'us vs. them' narrative by highlighting the Iranian regime's perception of 'enemies,' which the article then frames the allied actions against.
"I think the Israelis, their notion is that if they take out enough of the senior officials, that eventually the successors will not have the legitimacy and connections that the original leaders had, and that will either cause them to agree to a more favorable settlement for us, or might even fracture the regime so you have different factions"
Cancian's quote explicitly divides the interests into 'us' (implying Israel and its allies) versus the Iranian regime, portraying actions taken to achieve a 'more favorable settlement for us.'
Emotion signals
"Key details on Iran war as third week begins"
The headline and sub-headline create a sense of ongoing, developing conflict, implicitly generating a degree of emotional urgency for the reader to remain informed about the 'war' in its early stages.
Narrative Analysis (PCP)
How the article reshapes thinking: Perception (what beliefs are targeted), Context (what information is shifted or omitted), and Permission (what behavior is being encouraged).
The article aims to install the belief that Israel's strategy of targeted assassinations of Iranian officials, though potentially risky, is a rational and calculated approach to destabilize the Iranian regime and potentially lead to a more 'sensible' leadership or a 'change in the regime's view of the world.' It suggests that this strategy is effective due to superior Israeli intelligence and a division of labor with the U.S.
The article shifts the context of targeted assassinations from a potentially illegal or destabilizing act in international law to a pragmatic security measure and a sophisticated intelligence operation. It normalize the idea of a 'kill chain' and 'dividing the battlefield' in a conflict that is vaguely defined as 'strikes on Iran.'
The article omits the broader legal implications of targeted killings of foreign officials outside declared war zones, the long-term regional instability these actions might cause, or the potential for escalation beyond the stated goals. It also downplays the ethical considerations of such operations and the impact on civilian populations, focusing almost exclusively on the strategic efficacy from the perspective of Israel and the US.
The article encourages the reader to accept the targeted killing of foreign officials as a legitimate and potentially effective strategy for dealing with adversaries like Iran, particularly when framed as an intelligence-led operation aimed at promoting a 'more sensible' outcome. It seeks to normalize and rationalize this form of intervention.
SMRP Pattern
Four manipulation maintenance tactics: Socializing the idea as normal, Minimizing concerns, Rationalizing with logic, and Projecting blame.
"Segell said that Israeli focus on eliminating Iranian military and intelligence leaders is down to a hope that 'the person who replaces him is more sensible. … You are hoping that the replacement will basically say, 'Let's talk, let's negotiate, let's have diplomacy, let's find a way out of this.' And in many cases, it does happen. I mean, if you take out a terrorist leader, you'll find that things become more subdued.'"
Red Flags
High-severity indicators: silencing dissent, coordinated messaging, or weaponizing identity to shut down debate.
"Glen Segell, an academic and political analyst based in Israel with a background in operations and information security. ... Mark Cancian, a retired U.S. colonel and senior adviser with the CSIS think tank's Defense and Security Department... retired four-star U.S. Army Gen. Joseph Votel..."
Techniques Found(2)
Specific propaganda techniques identified using the SemEval-2023 academic taxonomy of 23 techniques across 6 categories.
"Israel says the operations are carried out through intelligence-driven targeted strikes."
The term 'targeted strikes' is often used to imply precision and minimize the perception of collateral damage, even though the context is 'killings of a number of top Iranian officials.' This euphemistic language is disproportionate to the severity of the actions described.
"If you take out a terrorist leader, you'll find that things become more subdued."
The phrase 'take out' is a euphemism for killing, depersonalizing the act. Labeling individuals as 'terrorist leaders' also serves to justify the actions against them, influencing perception without explicit argument.