Younger Iranian ladies stroll previous a state constructing coated 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 struggle are additionally firing off ironic, pop-culture-steeped memes on the web battlefield. Iran’s new leaders have rapidly assumed a web-based combating posture, amping up their memes and pointed assaults on the U.S. and Israel.
“What we’re seeing is not only a struggle of weapons, but it surely’s additionally a struggle 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 high officers alike relentlessly mocking and amplifying criticisms of the U.S. chief.
Prime members of Iran’s parliament, its Revolutionary Guard and even its president, Masoud Pezeshkian, have sought to insult or undermine Trump of their messaging. They usually’re utilizing the world’s hottest social media platforms, similar to Fb and X, to get the phrase out.
Among the many most placing examples: a sequence of seemingly AI-generated movies depicting Iranian army successes in opposition to the U.S. and Israel in a Legoesque cartoon artwork fashion.
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 photographs of inventory market sell-offs, missile strikes and coffins.
These and different messages out of Iran recurrently reference Jeffrey Epstein, the late infamous intercourse offender and former Trump pal on the middle of conspiracy theories that the president launched the Iran struggle to distract the general public from headlines about releases of recordsdata associated to the Epstein investigation.
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 instructing.
“The identical motive it really works in schooling is the explanation actors would use it for propaganda: individuals like Legos and can tune in to observe Lego-based movies,” Butler instructed CNBC in an electronic mail.
“The truth is if one thing is violent, utilizing Legos would possibly make individuals decrease their defenses and in addition 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 struggle, 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 goals for victory.
The movies have drawn criticism, together with from some former U.S. army officers, for trivializing a struggle wherein greater than a dozen U.S. service members have died and tons of 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 individuals. Certainly one of them instructed Politico the efforts are supposed to tout U.S. troops’ heroic work “in a method that captivates an viewers.”
The White Home instructed CNBC it intends to stay with its messaging technique.
“The legacy media needs us to apologize for highlighting the US Army’s unimaginable success, however the White Home will proceed showcasing the numerous examples of Iran’s ballistic missiles, manufacturing amenities, and desires of proudly owning a nuclear weapon being destroyed in actual time,” spokeswoman Anna Kelly stated.
The meme struggle’s endgame
Conflict propaganda is nothing new, however what’s being produced now — and what it is supposed 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 struggle 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 a substitute we get a sequence of memes” and “actually bellicose statements from Pete Hegseth,” Stahl stated. “I do not see any message self-discipline. I believe they’re everywhere.”
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 practically 100 million impressions as of April 1.
Iran’s purpose is not to persuade or corral its personal individuals — who’re reportedly going through prolonged web outages — however quite to craft a “response offensive” to undermine the U.S. globally, Stahl stated.
“There’s numerous erosion with regard to potential [U.S.] ally help for this struggle, and these messages from Iran are enjoying proper into that.”
Concentrating on Trump
It is not all memes and trolling. Iranian officers are additionally homing in on the struggle’s destabilizing impression on the world economic system and power costs.
On Sunday, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, steered on X that Trump’s behavior of saying struggle updates from his Reality Social account is definitely an effort to affect inventory markets.
“Heads-up: Pre-market so-called ‘information’ or ‘Reality’ is usually only a setup for profit-taking. Mainly, it is a reverse indicator,” Ghalibaf wrote.
“Do the alternative,” the speaker suggested buyers. “In the event that they pump it, quick it. In the event that they dump it, go lengthy. See one thing tomorrow? the drill.”
On Monday morning, Trump wrote on Reality Social that the U.S. is “in critical discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to finish our Army 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 People 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 bizarre People. It is not America First anymore … it is Israel First,” he wrote.