The image of Iran in US foreign policy discourse (1993–2024)

Abstract

This article analyzes the US representations of Iran across five administrations (1993–2024). Combining historical institutionalism with discursive institutionalism, the study traces how presidents and senior foreign-policy officials produced and reproduced two foundational myths – the “international community” and the “rogue states” – that represent Washington’s approach to Tehran. Based on detailed analysis of presidential statements and key policy discourse, the work argues that these myths produce a durable path-dependent framing: they simplify complex political interaction into a moralized binary (inside / outside; civilized / outcast) and thereby limit the range of politically plausible options. Although US administrations have oscillated between engagement and pressure, such stylistic and tactical differences remain confined by the underlying myths. Even administrations that pursued negotiations or rapprochement did so while implicitly sustaining the “rogue state” frame. The article therefore explains the puzzle of persistent hostility amid episodic détente: US rhetoric as well as policy towards Iran moves in circular patterns within mythic boundaries. In other words, although “dovishness” and “hawkishness” play an important role in US discourse towards Iran, both are still strictly limited by the “rogue state” framework. Such a state of affairs renders complete and lasting normalization between the two states impossible.