This study investigates the reflection of the twelve-day war between Iran and Israel ‎on Persian-language social media and its implications for the Islamic Republic’s media ‎policy. Drawing on networked public sphere theory and Castells’ concept of network ‎power, the research shows that contemporary conflicts unfold more in narratives and ‎public perceptions than on the military front. The dataset includes roughly 2,000 ‎popular posts from X, Instagram, Telegram, and Eitaa between June 13 and June 30, ‎analyzed through a mixed quantitative–qualitative approach. Findings reveal that ‎Telegram and Eitaa generated the most content, while Instagram and X attracted the ‎highest engagement. On X, users were predominantly politically active and opposed to ‎the Iranian government, with critical narratives dominating. Instagram exhibited anti-‎Iran bias due to content removal, though foreign users partially moderated narratives ‎with humanitarian perspectives. Telegram primarily served a news function, while Eitaa ‎acted as a channel for official narratives, albeit with limited analytical depth. Key ‎themes included military attacks, narrative warfare and misinformation, global ‎reactions, security analyses, and cyber operations. Opinion analysis indicated that ‎foreign users were supportive of Iranians, whereas Iranian users focused more on ‎political concerns and polarization. Despite Iran’s on-the-ground advantages, it faced ‎challenges in shaping Persian-language narratives due to opposition dominance, weak ‎engaging content, and lack of coordinated storytelling. The study concludes with ‎strategic recommendations, including people-centered media policy redesign, ‎strengthening global media diplomacy, improving domestic media performance, ‎intelligent information management, and establishing a national crisis narrative center.‎