Sahar Razavi
Role at the time: Associate professor of political science and director of the Iranian and Middle Eastern Studies Center, California State University, Sacramento
Statement summary
Sahar Razavi, asked on CNN what she made of Vice President Vance's claim that he would not call the conflict a war, said everybody knows it is a war. She said some of Vance's remark was political posturing, and called it bluster.
“I think everybody knows that it's a war. ... So, I think some of it is political posturing and some of it is perhaps trying to sell this as less of a war than it actually is. ... It's more just bluster, I believe, from J.D. Vance.”
Why we used this label
The case's reference point is Vice President Vance's September 3 statement that he would not call the fighting with Iran a war. Razavi said everybody knows it is a war, said some of Vance's remark was political posturing, and called it bluster. We record this as Condemned because she rejects the claim and criticizes the motive behind it. Challenged the characterization is the closest competing label; it loses because she goes beyond disputing the word and criticizes Vance's statement itself.