Fox News's Iran live blog is running under this banner: "Iran warns of 'devastating' response to US sanctions as America prepares for new phase of war." Read the grammar like a referee. Iran gets the menacing verb — warns. America gets the gym-bag verb — prepares. One country is threatening; the other is apparently just stretching before practice. * The one-sentence background: six months into the US war with Iran — with a US naval blockade already restricting Iran's oil exports in the Arabian Sea — the administration announced its "new phase," with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promising "the toughest sanctions in history" and, in his own words, "the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world." * That's the problem with "prepares." The blockade is running right now. Bessent called the plan a "one-two punch" and told the rest of the planet "you are either with us or against us." Vice President Vance says economic pressure is America's "most effective tool." Nobody in Washington is describing defense — they're openly narrating offense, with some pride. The headline still hands the threatening to Tehran's verb and the homework to Washington's. * To be fair about where "devastating" came from: Iran's armed forces chief promised "revolutionary, crushing, regret-inducing and devastating responses." Real general, real quote — and "regret-inducing" genuinely sounds like a scented candle for the recently divorced. A headline can absolutely use that. * But scroll down the same Fox live blog and you meet the other Iranian voice of the same day: "Iranian president says it's time to end the war." Pezeshkian's words: "better to end the war today, when we are in power and dignity." Two senior Iranian figures, same day, same page. The one asking for the exit got a small entry below the fold of the feed. The one promising devastation got the banner. * Cross-check, because that's the house rule: CNN's live blog headline made the US the actor — "US imposes new sanctions on Hezbollah, threatens economic pressure on Iran." Al Jazeera attributed the aggression to its author: "US Treasury secretary says new economic measures will 'collapse' Iran." Same facts, same day — both desks managed to put the country doing the sanctioning in the subject slot. * This is one of the oldest moves in war coverage: choose which enemy quote counts as "the" enemy position, then dress your own government's offense in a passive cardigan. When the blockaded country's president says "end the war" and the headline picks the general instead, that isn't reporting the threat. That's shopping for it.