Younger Iranian ladies stroll previous a state constructing lined with a large anti-U.S. billboard depicting a symbolic picture of the destroyed USS Abraham Lincoln plane provider, in downtown Tehran, Iran, on Feb. 26, 2026, the ultimate day of Iran-U.S. talks that happen in Geneva.
Morteza Nikoubazl | Nurphoto | Getty Photos
Wartime propaganda has advanced for the social media age, and Iran is now vying with the U.S. to be the world’s largest keyboard warrior.
Because the real-world bombardment within the Center East continues and casualties mount, each side within the month-old warfare are additionally firing off ironic, pop-culture-steeped memes on the net battlefield. Iran’s new leaders have rapidly assumed a web-based preventing posture, amping up their memes and pointed assaults on the U.S. and Israel.
“What we’re seeing is not only a warfare of weapons, however it’s additionally a warfare of aesthetics,” stated Nancy Snow, a professor and creator who research propaganda. “Whoever controls the meme controls the temper.”
Iran’s prime goal is President Donald Trump, with state media and prime officers alike relentlessly mocking and amplifying criticisms of the U.S. chief.
High members of Iran’s parliament, its Revolutionary Guard and even its president, Masoud Pezeshkian, have sought to insult or undermine Trump of their messaging. And so they’re utilizing the world’s hottest social media platforms, corresponding to Fb and X, to get the phrase out.
Among the many most hanging examples: a collection of seemingly AI-generated movies depicting Iranian army successes towards the U.S. and Israel in a Legoesque cartoon artwork model.
One reveals a panicked Trump ordering an airstrike after reviewing the “Epstein File” alongside Devil and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One other, a rap diss observe, calls Trump a “loser” and accuses him of being Netanyahu’s “puppet” over pictures of inventory market sell-offs, missile strikes and coffins.
These and different messages out of Iran commonly reference Jeffrey Epstein, the late infamous intercourse offender and former Trump good friend on the heart of conspiracy theories that the president launched the Iran warfare to distract the general public from headlines about releases of recordsdata associated to the Epstein investigation.
An enormous artwork work banner newly posted on the nook of Vali Asr Sq. depicts Iranian missiles with messages addressing Minab schoolgirls and victims of Epstein Island on March 17, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. =
Kaveh Kazemi | Getty Photos
The plain intent of Iran’s messaging is not only to challenge defiance and counter U.S. assessments of Tehran’s army weak spot, but additionally to undermine Trump by homing in on a few of his largest political vulnerabilities.
“Iran is mixing grievance with meme tradition — mixing Epstein, anti-war sentiment and pop visuals to penetrate fragmented Western audiences,” Snow stated.
As for why they’re utilizing Legos to convey their message, it could be due to their common enchantment, stated Dan Butler, a political science professor at Washington College in St. Louis who makes use of the toys in his educating.
“The identical cause it really works in training is the explanation actors would use it for propaganda: folks like Legos and can tune in to look at Lego-based movies,” Butler advised CNBC in an electronic mail.
“In truth if one thing is violent, utilizing Legos would possibly make folks decrease their defenses and likewise be extra more likely to share the fabric,” he stated.
Airstrikes, bowling and Grand Theft Auto
The Trump administration, in the meantime, has melded wartime messaging with web tradition much more actually.
Within the early days of the warfare, official accounts shared movies splicing clips from sports activities, motion pictures and video video games into actual footage of army strikes.
The visuals dovetail with the relentlessly bombastic and boastful rhetoric from Trump and Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth, who’ve repeatedly trumpeted the “obliteration” of Iran’s army whereas assuring that the U.S. is quickly nearing its aims for victory.
The movies have drawn criticism, together with from some former U.S. army officers, for trivializing a warfare during which greater than a dozen U.S. service members have died and a whole lot extra have been injured.
However the White Home officers concerned in creating the movies say they’ve confirmed efficient in drawing consideration and connecting with younger folks. One among them advised Politico the efforts are supposed to tout U.S. troops’ heroic work “in a method that captivates an viewers.”
The White Home advised CNBC it intends to stay with its messaging technique.
“The legacy media desires us to apologize for highlighting the US Navy’s unimaginable success, however the White Home will proceed showcasing the various examples of Iran’s ballistic missiles, manufacturing services, and desires of proudly owning a nuclear weapon being destroyed in actual time,” spokeswoman Anna Kelly stated.
The meme warfare’s endgame
Conflict propaganda is nothing new, however what’s being produced now — and what it is meant to realize — is unprecedented, stated Roger Stahl, a College of Georgia communications professor whose analysis covers rhetoric and propaganda.
The Trump administration did not mount a lot of a warfare propaganda marketing campaign earlier than launching preliminary strikes on Feb. 28, and “there’s been no try and justify this battle earlier than or after,” Stahl stated.
“As an alternative we get a collection of memes” and “actually bellicose statements from Pete Hegseth,” Stahl stated. “I do not see any message self-discipline. I feel they’re all over.”
The aim of it, he stated, is to impress Trump’s base of supporters and draw consideration.
On the latter metric, the technique has been successful: 4 movies posted on the official White Home X account on March 5 and 6 have garnered almost 100 million impressions as of April 1.
Iran’s aim is not to persuade or corral its personal folks — who’re reportedly going through prolonged web outages — however fairly to craft a “response offensive” to undermine the U.S. globally, Stahl stated.
“There’s a variety of erosion with regard to potential [U.S.] ally help for this warfare, and these messages from Iran are enjoying proper into that.”
Concentrating on Trump
It isn’t all memes and trolling. Iranian officers are additionally homing in on the warfare’s destabilizing affect on the world financial system and power costs.
On Sunday, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, steered on X that Trump’s behavior of saying warfare updates from his Fact Social account is definitely an effort to affect inventory markets.
“Heads-up: Pre-market so-called ‘information’ or ‘Fact’ is commonly only a setup for profit-taking. Principally, it is a reverse indicator,” Ghalibaf wrote.
“Do the alternative,” the speaker suggested buyers. “In the event that they pump it, brief it. In the event that they dump it, go lengthy. See one thing tomorrow? You recognize the drill.”
On Monday morning, Trump wrote on Fact Social that the U.S. is “in critical discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to finish our Navy Operations in Iran.”
The S&P 500 ended the buying and selling day decrease whereas oil costs continued to rise.
Ghalibaf on Tuesday shared a CNN article on Individuals combating the war-induced spike in U.S. fuel costs.
“Unhappy, however that is what occurs when your leaders put others forward of hard-working and peculiar Individuals. It isn’t America First anymore … it is Israel First,” he wrote.
