A Comparative Pragmatic Study of Threatening Speech Acts in Trump's and Araghchi's Posts during the U.S.–Israel–Iran War

Abstract

The study deals with a pragmatic analysis for threatening in the social media posts of both Donald Trump and Abass Araghchi that are related to the U.S.–Israel–Iran War in 2026 by using an eclectic model of Searle’s (1969, 1976) and Brown and Levinson’s (1987). The study deals with analyzing speech act theory and politeness theory. The study aims at: Identifying the meaning of speech act of threat. Showing the way the politicians use of politeness theory and its strategies. Recognizing the effect of using speech act and politeness theory on the delivered message. The study hypothesized that: Both of Trump and Araghchi use indirect speech act rather than direct speech act for the sack of diplomacy. Bald-on record is the highly used by Araghchi rather than Trump. Collectively, the findings validate the study’s hypotheses; Trump uses indirect speech act (71%) and Araghchi (87%) while the direct (28%) for Trump and (12.5%) for Araghchi. The second hypothesis is valid too since Tramp uses bald-on strategy (33%) and Araghchi (50%) this is related to the fact that Araghchi uses a direct and unmitigated judgment, his sues strong words and communicate in straightforward manner, leaving little ambiguity.