In his 2023 book titled “Win Every Argument”, British journalist Mehdi Hasan devotes an entire chapter to a debate tactic he considers as the most dishonest, in the rhetorical arsenal, he refers as “Gish Gallop”. Named after anti evolution, creationist and biochemist, Duane Tolbert Gish. The technique works by overwhelming an opponent with a rapid flood of claims, accusations, and assertions, regardless of their accuracy or relevance. The goal is not to win on substance but volume. One can make a claim in a second, disproving the same takes minutes. Stack enough claims and your opponent collapses under the weight of refutation. Audiences, unable to track the avalanche, mistake quantity for credibility. Only two years later Mehdi Hasan’s framework would describe an aggressor who imposed war being on Gish’s gallop.
The groundwork for the 2026 Gish gallop offensive was laid down long before the military offensive actually started. For over three decades, the claim that Iran was months away from a nuclear weapon was repeated so often, by so many officials, that it hardened into assumed fact in Western discourse. The June 2025 bombing of Iran by USA and Israel was capped with so called “obliteration” of its nuclear capability, calling it off earlier than expected. Without even considering what was already hyped and claimed the same strategic objective was cited on February 28, while imposing an uncalled for war on Iran, forgetting that the lie was already consumed last year. This time however use of months gave way to weeks away from making the dreaded bomb, may be to keep the chronology intact. These assertions persisted despite a statement from the US Director of National Intelligence denying the claim. No such weapon ever materialized, but the cumulative weight of repetition had already hit the bullseye. By February 2026, publics in the US and Israel had been primed by decades of unverified imminence. The disinformation gallop first and later the war, both converged.
Audiences, unable to track the avalanche, mistake quantity for credibility.
On February 28, 2026, the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran, which resulted in martyrdom of its Supreme Leader and targeting its nuclear facilities. The military and the disinformation offensives were launched simultaneously. That same day, the Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ Elementary School in Minab was struck, killing at least 165 people, the majority young girls. President Trump told reporters it was Iran’s doing, blaming Iranian inaccuracy with munitions. Four days later the New York Times reported that a US military investigation had determined the United States was responsible. The original claim had already done its work. It seeded doubt, deflected global outrage, and bought four days of narrative cover. Corrections travel slowly. Accusations gallop at the speed of light
As the war continued through March 2026, the USA galloped institutionally. During a press conference on the sinking of IRIS Dena; the Iranian naval ship. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth falsely stated it was the first instance of a submarine sinking an enemy surface vessel since WWII. Two previous confirmed instances existed, the British sinking of ARA General Belgrano in 1982 and the Pakistani sinking of INS Khukri in 1971. A Defense Secretary delivering false history at a war briefing is not a slip. It is another claim adding to the pile. Meanwhile, President Trump accused US media outlets of treason for promoting Iranian propaganda. When the White House was pressed for evidence, its spokesperson produced links to three foreign outlets, one Israeli, one Turkish, one Saudi, that had quoted Iranian statements. Even these reports did not contain the fake videos President had referenced. But by then treason accusation had already circled the globe. The correction was buried in a fact-check, few would know or read.
By April 2026, with a fragile ceasefire under negotiation, the gallop attained its maximum speed. In phone calls with journalists, President Trump declared that Iran had agreed to an unlimited moratorium on nuclear activities, an end to its support for all proxy groups including Hamas and Hezbollah, and the removal of its entire enriched uranium stockpile. Iran denied every claim within hours. None were independently verified. The gallop did not recede. The world was told that Iran’s military was gone; everything was gone, while Iran demonstrably retained its military capabilities. Reporters were told that Pope Leo XIV had implied that Iran can have a nuclear weapon, whereas the Pope, an unequivocal opponent of nuclear weapons, refuted the same. Each claim forced a denial. Each denial surfaced after the next claim was already airborne. The frequency of falsehoods made it impossible to rely on anything that was being said about what Iran was supposedly agreeing to behind the scenes. The US administration had institutional reach, global media infrastructure, and a President with a direct line to every newsroom around the planet. Iran kept pulling the reins back by negating in almost real time through its state broadcasters and social media accounts. The asymmetry of the gallop mirrored the asymmetry of the war itself.
For counter measures Mehdi Hasan maintains that the counter to a Gish gallop is to name it, call it out, refuse to chase every claim, and anchor on the facts that matter most. Those facts here are stark. A school full of girls is bombed and the victim is blamed. A Defense Secretary falsely rewrites naval history at a podium. A President attributed something to the Pope he never said, claimed regarding Iran which neither Iran agreed nor are verified from independent sources. Each leap in this gallop eroded personal credibility, which may not matter for persons, but what crumbled the most was world’s ability to discern facts from figment. It works in debate halls because audiences cannot fact-check in real time, it follows suit in wars, multiplied across billions of people and thousands of news cycles. The Gish gallop did not merely shape the narrative of this war, it threatens a fragile ceasefire, and is potent to rekindle the war.
The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at zulfiqar.shirazi @gmail.com