Hair or fist

Abstract In 2022, a protest movement in Iran was triggered by the death of a woman who had been arrested for not covering her hair in the way required by the government. The movement spread but was then squashed. Media coverage was intense and showed many images employing visual metaphors and metonymies, often in combination. While there are now many studies analyzing multimodal metaphors in political contexts, no study has, yet, dealt with the metaphors and metonymies used in the media during the 2022 protests. This study uses a framework proposed by Ruiz de Mendoza and colleagues (2002; 2014; 2020), to analyze the structural integration of metaphor and metonymy and their joint role in meaning-making during the protests. The analysis of nine images in social media including Instagram and X reveals that Iranian political groups strategically employed the blending of visual metaphors and metonymies to legitimize their own ideological positions and delegitimize opposing viewpoints. The findings highlight the complex interrelations and interactions between these multimodal devices, demonstrating their critical function in shaping political discourse and communicative intent.