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After a quiet few months, hardliners in Iran are slowly but surely returning to their traditional attacks on the US. Theyre discovering quite gleefully that their new target a wispy-haired political outsider prone to tweets and temper tantrums is almost too easy to make fun of.

Cartoons of President Donald Trump in various forms, from a toddler to a pig, are flooding Irans websites and streets, reflecting a gradual shift in the countrys attitudes toward the president. While Irans leaders were previously apprehensive or even a little afraid of Trump who had repeatedly promised during his campaign to go after Iran for its nuclear program and support for sectarian militias around the region many in Tehran are now realizing they have little to worry about when it comes to Trump following through on hyperbolic threats.

Immediately after Trump was elected, we saw a dip in the volume of anti-American language, says Ayelet Savyon, who has been monitoring the issue closely as the director of the Iran Media Project at the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). But now theyre back on track with the inflammatory rhetoric.

MEMRI research shows that for about three months following Trumps inauguration, the popular Iranian hate slogan "death to America" disappeared almost entirely from official discourse, as did public burning of the American flag. Iranian officials seemed particularly anxious about Trumps threats to dismantle the Obama administrations landmark 2015 nuclear deal, which he has called a disaster and the worst deal ever.

Those fears have now largely been dispelled by Trumps performance in office, and specifically his flip-flopping on the nuclear deal, to which Iranian leaders have paid close attention. In other words, Iran is back with its anti-US jokes and is coming after an easy and obvious target: Trump.

Take the Iranian government-linked group that recently organized a Trumpism cartoon and caricature contest where more than 1,500 illustrators were asked to submit images mocking the US president.

The contest concluded with a gallery exhibition of the images in Tehran that was held quite purposefully, Savyon says on July 3, just a day before America celebrated Independence Day.

This competition was organized by a group that presents itself as an independent NGO but actually receives funds from the Iranian government and maintains close relations with senior government officials, Savyon says.

The group is known internationally for organizing an annual Holocaust-themed cartoon contest that insults the history of the genocide and gives a platform for Holocaust deniers in the country. Masoud Shojaei Tabatabaei, one of the leaders of this group, said in April last year that the organization he heads "cooperates with the Ministry of Culture."

His latest venture, this International Trumpism Cartoon and Caricature Contest, was pitched as a creative opportunity for international artists to showcase their political satire, but later seemed to some participants like a glorified platform for state-sponsored propaganda.

Ed Wexler and Clay Jones, the two American cartoonists who were awarded prizes in the competition, said they rejected the citation from the group when they learned about its tradition of organizing cartoon competitions that both deny and mock the Holocaust.

Accounts from both Jones and Wexler suggest that the way the Trumpism competition was carried out was ... sketchy to say the least. Organizers reached out to Jones via Facebook, explaining the theme and inviting him to submit a piece of artwork over email. They didnt mention any of the other competitions they had organized before, or the fact that they were based in Iran.

It was extremely simple to enter the competition, Jones said in an interview. There was no entrance fee, no paperwork. You just attached some files to an email.

When the contest ended and winners were announced, Jones and Wexler werent notified even though they had both won prizes. The two cartoonists found out about the results and about the group only when American news agencies started running articles on the contest.

They didnt notify me of anything. I feel exploited, Wexler told me.

I think the competition was held to justify their stances they hold, Jones says. They like to criticize America, and what better way to do that than to have someone agree with you whos an American.

Jones adds that he doesnt think its a coincidence that out of the 1,600 cartoonists who (organizers claimed) participated, the winner of the contest was an Iranian, Hadi Asadi. Asadi won $1,500 for his cartoon of Trump dressed in a suit of money, orange hair ablaze and face crumpled in anger with saliva dripping from his mouth.

Asadi told the Associated Press he wanted to show the money-mindedness and warmonger nature of Trump. I wanted to show Trump while trampling symbols of culture, he said.

Despite government statements otherwise, research institutions like MEMRI have known for years now that this group has definite links to the Iranian government. This contest, and the images it produced, suggests that the event was less a celebration of political satire or creativity than it was a state-sponsored platform for Trump-bashing.

Trump is not the first US president to be targeted by Iran, which has made effigies and caricatures of every president since Jimmy Carter, according the New York Times. In fact, according to Savyon, anti-US rhetoric was more severe during the Obama administration, which Iranian leaders typically derided as weak.

Whats distinct this time is that Trump, who worried some Iranian leaders with his braggadocio during the campaign, is now proving to be an exceptionally easy US president to skewer.

He isnt welcomed in certain circles in the US, so its easier for [Iran] to say look, its not what we say, its what you say, Savyon explains. Iran is no different from any other place in the world they see how Trump is treated in the US, by the press and other major elements, and they only echo it. They only imitate it.

Read more from the original source:
Iran's cartoonists are finding it almost too easy to mock Trump - Vox