In a joint editorial, four of Tehran’s top newspapers decried the US exit from the nuclear deal and asked American journalists to speak up against the imposition of “tyrannical sanctions” against Iran. Hoping the gain a sympathetic ear in the West, particularly the United States, the 1,500-word editorial published in English and Persian framed the imposition of sanctions as an issue of freedom.
The editorial, “In Defense of Freedom,” led with the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, concerning “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” It echoed Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, beginning with the line, “Just twelve scores [sic] and two years after Thomas Jefferson wrote this statement …”
