Framing war through sporting narratives: Examining Iranian sports media during and after the 12-day Iran–Israel war

Longstanding tensions and significant escalating actions between Iran and Israel during June 2025—referred to as the 12-day Iran–Israel war—were sparked by airstrikes and retaliatory missile strikes between the two countries. The present study examines how Iranian sports media utilized war and peace journalism approaches during the 12-day war and the proceeding 7-day post-war period to craft national narratives of the conflict and its fallen athletes. Utilizing a mixed-methods design that employs quantitative content analysis and qualitative textual analysis, the present study analyzed 167 Iranian online sports articles published during both time periods. Under the lens of framing theory, this study investigated how sports coverage adopted war journalism’s escalatory approaches and language, and provides insights into the framing narratives (e.g., triumph, morale, patriotism, social cohesion) that were used to characterize the war for Iranian audiences. Analysis determined that media narratives were closely aligned with the core tenets of war journalism as violence-oriented, propaganda-oriented, elite-oriented, and difference-oriented approaches were adopted by Iranian media in sports reporting. The theoretical and practical implications for war reporting and sports journalism are discussed.