Young Iranian women walk past a state building covered with a huge anti-American billboard depicting the symbolic image of the destroyed USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in downtown Tehran, Iran, on the final day of Iran-US talks in Geneva on February 26, 2026.
Morteza Nicoubzal | Nurfoto | getty images
Wartime propaganda has evolved for the social media age, and Iran is now competing with the US to become the world’s greatest keyboard warrior.
As real-world bombings continue in the Middle East and casualties mount, both sides in the months-old war are also creating ironic, pop-culture-tinged memes on the online battlefield. Iran’s new leaders have quickly adopted an online fighting stance, stepping up their memes and sharp attacks on the US and Israel.
“What we are seeing is not just a war of weapons, but it is also a war of aesthetics,” he said. nancy snowA professor and author who studies propaganda. “He who controls the meme controls the mood.”
Iran’s main target is President Donald Trump, with state media and top officials constantly mocking and criticizing the US leader.
Top members of Iran’s parliament, its Revolutionary Guard and even its president Massoud Pezeshkian have sought to insult or undermine Trump in their messaging. And they’re using the world’s most popular social media platforms like Facebook and X to get their point across.
Among the most striking examples: a series of seemingly AI-generated video Depicting Iranian military successes against the US and Israel in Lego cartoon art style.
One shows a panicked Trump ordering an airstrike after reviewing the “Epstein file” with Satan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Another, a rap diss track, calls Trump a “loser” and accuses him of being a “puppet” of Netanyahu over images of stock market selloffs, missile attacks and coffins.
They and other messages coming from Iran regularly refer to Jeffrey EpsteinCentered on the late notorious sex offender and former Trump friend conspiracy theories The President launched the Iran War to distract the public from headlines about the release of files related to the Epstein investigation.
The clear intent of Iran’s message is not only to defy and counter American assessments of Tehran’s military weakness, but also to undermine Trump by unearthing some of his greatest political weaknesses.
Snow said, “Iran is mixing grievances with meme culture – a mix of Epstein, anti-war sentiment and pop visuals, to penetrate a fragmented Western audience.”
Dan Butler, a political science professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said the reason why they are using Lego to deliver their message may be because of their universal appeal. uses toys In his teaching.
“This is why it works in education, this is why actors will use it for promotion: people love Lego and will be willing to watch Lego-based movies,” Butler told CNBC in an email.
“In fact if there is something violent, using Lego can make people less safe and also more likely to share the content,” he said.
Air Strike, Bowling and Grand Theft Auto
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has melded wartime messages even more literally with Internet culture.
In the early days of the war, official accounts shared videos combining clips from sports, films, and video games with actual footage of military attacks.
These scenes match the increasingly bombastic and boastful rhetoric of Trump and the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who has repeatedly trumpeted the “demolition” of Iran’s military and assured that the US is rapidly approaching its goal of victory.
The video has been criticized, including by some former US military officers, for trivializing the war, in which more than a dozen US service members have been killed and hundreds more injured.
But White House officials involved in the making of the videos say they have proven effective in garnering attention and connecting with young people. one of them said politico The purpose of these efforts is to publicize the heroic actions of American soldiers “in a way that captivates audiences.”
The White House told CNBC it wants to stick to its messaging strategy.
Spokeswoman Anna Kelly said, “Legacy Media wants us to apologize for highlighting the incredible success of the United States military, but the White House will continue to showcase multiple examples of Iran’s destruction of ballistic missiles, production facilities, and dreams of possessing nuclear weapons in real time.”
end game of meme war
War propaganda is nothing new, but what is being produced now – and what it is intended to achieve – is unprecedented, said Roger Stahl, a communications professor at the University of Georgia, whose research includes rhetoric and propaganda.
The Trump administration did not conduct much war propaganda before launching the initial strikes on Feb. 28, and “there was no effort to justify this conflict before or after that,” Stahl said.
Stahl said, “Instead we get a series of memes” and “really offensive statements from Pete Hegseth.” “I don’t see any message discipline. I think they’re everywhere.”
Its purpose, he said, is to strengthen Trump’s base of supporters and attract attention.
On the latter metric, the strategy has been successful: four videos posted on the official White House march 5 And 6 As of April 1, approximately 100 million impressions have been received.
Stahl said Iran’s goal is not to placate or harass its own people – who are reportedly experiencing extended internet outages – but rather to prepare a “counteroffensive” to weaken the US globally.
“There has been a lot of reduction in terms of potential (U.S.) ally support for this war, and these messages from Iran are working directly into that.”
target on trump
It’s not all memes and trolling. Iranian officials are also considering the destabilizing impact of war Global economy and energy prices.
On Sunday, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, suggested on Twitter that Trump’s habit of announcing war updates from his Truth social account is actually an attempt to influence stock markets.
“Warning: Pre-market so-called ‘news’ or ‘truth’ is often a setup to take profits. Basically, it’s a reverse indicator,” Ghalibaf wrote.
“Do the opposite,” the speaker advised investors. “If they pump it, make it short. If they dump it, make it long. See something tomorrow? You know the drill.”
On Monday morning, Trump wrote true social That the US is “in serious discussions with a new and more appropriate arrangement to end its military operations in Iran.”
The S&P 500 ended the trading day lower while oil prices continued to rise.
Ghalibaf on Tuesday shared A CNN article on Americans struggling with the war-induced increase in US gas prices.
He wrote, “Sadly, but this is what happens when your leaders put others ahead of hard-working, ordinary Americans. This is no longer America First… This is Israel First.”