Fist Crushing Iraqi Jet, ca. 1980s
September 25th, 2016
Rising up from a crowd of Iranian protestors, a large fist crushes an Iraqi jet in a symbolic act of defiance and projected victory during Iran’s war with Iraq. The jet is emblazoned with the flags of the USSR and the United States, further rejecting the interference of foreign powers in the newly established Islamic Republic.
The fist is found in the visual propaganda of other revolutions of the 20th century. The poster’s artist thus symbolically aligns Iranian mass mobilization with this widely recognizable symbol of defiance. The unity of the Iranian people during the Revolution, and now against their Iraqi enemy, is depicted as the root cause of political triumph and military success.