US-Israeli Airstrikes Target Iranian State Media Headquarters and Assembly of Experts

Coordinated Strikes on Iranian Infrastructure

On March 2, 2026, a series of airstrikes targeted key Iranian state and religious institutions. According to widespread reports across Arabic-language Telegram channels, dual explosions struck the vicinity of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) building in Tehran. The attack was quickly labeled an "American-Israeli bombing" by Iranian state television, a framing amplified prominently by networks like قناة الجزيرة and واحد عراق. Simultaneously, Iranian news agencies reported that airstrikes destroyed the Assembly of Experts building in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, as reported by التلفزيون العربي - عاجل.

Competing Narratives: Media Suppression vs. Military Targets

The reporting reveals a sharp divergence in how the combatants characterize the targets. Arabic-language channels aligned with Palestinian and Iranian perspectives, such as فلسطين بوست and إذاعة صوت القدس, heavily utilized terminology framing the strikes as an unprovoked "American-Israeli aggression" against civilian media institutions. The IRIB director was widely quoted assuring the public that there were "no dead or wounded in the attack" and that broadcasts were continuing normally.

Conversely, the Israeli military perspective, filtered through pan-Arab news channels, framed the IRIB building as a legitimate military target. The Israeli army claimed the broadcasting headquarters "was used by the Revolutionary Guards", a statement highlighted by Al Araby TV. Furthermore, the IDF characterized the operation as the destruction of the "media and propaganda center in Iran", according to قناة القدس.

Public Sentiment and Regional Anxiety

The psychological impact of the strikes is highly visible in the public chatter on regional channels. In the comments section of وكالة بغداد اليوم الاخبارية—an Iraqi news channel—users exhibited a mix of panic, sectarian hostility, and defiance. Comments ranged from deep anxiety over a broader regional war, such as "We are going to die and I haven't even graduated yet", to virulent anti-Israel sentiments like "The Jews are pigs". Others expressed staunch pro-Iranian solidarity, posting prayers to "grant victory to the Islamic Republic".

Across channels with measured sentiment profiles, such as الـقـدس و فلسـطين الإخـبـاريـة 🇵🇸❤️ Chat (which heavily favors Hamas and Gaza while opposing Israel and the US), the focus remained on the resilience of the Iranian state, amplifying the IRIB director's statement that there were "no martyrs or wounded" in the attack. The use of the politically charged term "martyrs" (شهداء) in place of "dead" (قتلى) underscores the ideological framing of Iranian casualties within the broader "Axis of Resistance" narrative.