An Iranian commentary published by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-related Tasnim News Agency used biblical and Qur’anic imagery to compare US President Donald Trump to Pharaoh and Nimrod, two archetypal tyrants, while predicting that he would ultimately fall.
The article, published on Sunday and filed by Tasnim’s culture desk, quoted Fa’ezeh Tahmasbi, described by the outlet as a university professor and Qur’anic studies expert, speaking to a Tasnim cultural reporter.
Tasnim’s framing leaned heavily on religious symbolism. It invoked Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt in the biblical Exodus story, who confronted Moses and refused to let the Israelites leave, a figure that also appears frequently in the Qur’an as a symbol of arrogance and oppression.
It also referenced Nimrod, a biblical figure described in Genesis as a “mighty hunter,” who later became a symbol in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions of defiance against God and tyranny linked to the Tower of Babel story.
Tasnim decries Trump, Netanyahu as 'Pharaonic'
In the Tasnim piece, Tahmasbi tied the imagery directly to contemporary politics, using it to describe Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and arguing that modern leaders could fit the same “Pharaonic” pattern of arrogance and violence.
The commentary also echoed recent public messaging attributed to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was quoted in other reporting comparing Trump to “world tyrants” such as Pharaoh and Nimrod and saying such rulers were eventually brought down.
Tasnim has been described by the US Treasury as an outlet founded by two IRGC commanders, with Treasury saying the agency acted in support of the IRGC and other state bodies.