Street vending is one of the most contested urban issues in Iran. The ways in which street vendors are represented in the media, particularly in newspapers, play a significant role in shaping public perceptions and policy debates. The fluid identity of street vendors and the legal ambiguity surrounding their activities have contributed to their construction as a social group positioned against the hegemonic order of urban governance and represented as the “Other.” This study examines the discourse of street vendors’ representation in Etemad newspaper between 2015 and 2022. The research employs Teun A. van Dijk’s discourse analysis as its analytical framework. The findings indicate that the discourse of street vendors’ representation is constructed through three interconnected discursive formations. The resistant victim, The the criminalized and neglected Other, and The Controversial Other. Overall, the dominant discourse in Etemad newspaper constructs street vendors as subaltern liquid Others who are seen but not accepted. The relationship between the other social groups and them is based neither on inclusion nor solely on exclusion. The Other in this discourse is not constructed as an entity to be completely excluded or eliminated; rather, the boundary between the Self and the Other remains fluid and permeable.