Understanding the Continuity of Discursive Nationalism Under Successive Political Systems of Iran: Persian Gulf Naming, Pop‐Nationalism and Symbolic Consensus

ABSTRACT The article examines the discursive continuity of Iranian nationalism across successive political systems through the case of the Persian Gulf naming dispute. Drawing on critical discourse analysis and qualitative content from digital platforms, the study highlights a symbolic convergence between state, opposition and popular narratives, both inside and outside Iran. Being state‐permitted, this digital nationalist expression channels deep‐seated affect and reinforces a coordinated narrative of national identity. The Persian Gulf thus emerges not only as a simple hydronym but also as a shared affective and ideological platform linking pre‐ and post‐revolutionary elites with digital publics in a moment of symbolic consensus.