Official journalist attacks the press for coverage of the conflict in Iran

Amid the escalating military tensions between the United States, Israel, and Iran, the official journalist Jorge Enrique Jerez Belisario published an article titled “Factory of Monsters: When Ink Prepares Gunpowder” in the newspaper Granma, in which he accuses major Western media of acting as part of a “media operation” to justify the military offensive against Tehran.

In the text, the author argues that international coverage has portrayed Iran as an existential threat while minimizing or justifying U.S. and Israeli bombings under concepts such as "military objectives" or "tactical strikes".

According to Jerez, there is a "perceptual distortion" in the Western media narrative that portrays the aggressor as a rational actor and the responding country as an "irrational beast." He also denounces the use of labels such as "terrorist regime" or "proxies" to dehumanize Iran and its regional allies.

Defense of the strategic ally

The article defends the legitimacy of the Iranian government and claims that internal protests in the country have been amplified by external interests. It also compares the current situation to the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, when — it argues — the Western press helped foster consensus for the war through misinformation about weapons of mass destruction.

"A monster is created in fiction in order to then sell the solution through actual events," writes the journalist, who frames international coverage as part of a strategy of "psychological warfare."

Cuba and the external conflict

The statement comes at a time when Cuba is experiencing one of the deepest economic crises in its recent history, characterized by prolonged blackouts, shortages of food and medicine, inflation, and massive migration.

While the Cuban government maintains a position aligned with Iran and criticizes the military actions of the United States, critical sectors are questioning why the official narrative allocates significant attention to external conflicts while the internal situation continues to deteriorate.

The Granma text aligns with the traditional editorial line of the Cuban government, which typically supports governments it considers strategic allies and denounces what it defines as "Western media hegemony."