#DarkPropaganda No. 6 | The Queen Who Never Was

Some fantasies are so bold they deserve their own museum wing.

Exhibit A: the sudden rebranding of Maryam Rajavi as Iran’s future first woman ruler, ready to glide into Tehran the morning after the “inevitable fall” of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In this fairy tale, history is optional, geography is flexible, and popularity is assumed—very assumed.

Decades of exile? A cult-like organization ( MEK ) with a record so controversial even its former Western patrons tiptoe around it? No problem. Just add a press release, a panel at a European parliament, and a few stock photos of applauding audiences who couldn’t locate Iran on a map without Google.

The script is always the same. First, declare the IRI “days from collapse.” Second, introduce a pre-packaged alternative leader—preferably fluent in English, allergic to Iranian streets, and very comfortable with Western talking points. Third, repeat the phrase “first woman to rule Iran” until symbolism replaces legitimacy.

What’s missing from the story is the inconvenient detail of Iranians themselves. The millions who don’t recognize Rajavi as a political figure, let alone a national leader. The collective memory that hasn’t forgotten the MEK’s past, no matter how aggressively it’s Photoshopped out of existence. And the basic question no one in these think tanks ever answers: ruled over whom, exactly?

This isn’t feminism. It’s ventriloquism. A cardboard crown held up by foreign microphones, sold as “liberation,” and marketed as progress. The goal isn’t a woman leading Iran—it’s anyone leading Iran who doesn’t come from Iran.

So yes, some dare to suggest it. Not because it’s plausible, but because dark propaganda thrives on spectacle, not substance. When reality refuses to cooperate, invent a queen—and hope no one asks where her kingdom is.