The news of the United States (and Israel) attack on Iran has left the press quite taken aback, as most headlines are strictly informative. Some newspapers declared Khamenei dead, while others hedged their bets and recalled that this was at least what American official sources claimed. Among those that did let their gaze wander beyond the facts were, for example, El Periódico and El Punt Avui, which agreed on their alliterative, Arabic-sounding headline “And now, Iran”, linking the military action to the warmongering drift of a Trump who has shattered the rules of international law. A curious self-nominee for the Nobel Prize, who has already attacked two sovereign countries – however regrettable their respective regimes might have been – without invoking Congress or at least NATO. The sports newspaper Marca, by the way, also leads with the news –“The world, on alert”)–, perhaps out of genuine interest and to ensure that M. Rajoy is aware of the news, or perhaps because this allows them to put the Yamal triplet in small print (which is indeed a front-page photo in the also Madrid-based As). Regarding the world press, La Stampa catches my attention, with an editorial on the front page that begins with a quote from Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, to explain that however abominable the ayatollah was, there is no certainty that the US action is in favor of the democratic rights of Iranians. But even more pointed seems to me the front page of the Swiss Blick. The headline is “Trump's Biggest War”, quite neutral, but the poison is in the photo. The cover is split into two images. On the left, the American president, on the right, the dead ayatollah. The framing of both is similar, in a frontal shot that equates them. They are two supreme leaders. In opposition, however, two sides of the same coin, according to semiotics. Which means we can start trembling.
