Iran's war propaganda homes in on Trump with Lego memes
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Iranian propaganda is also homing in on the war's destabilizing impact on the global economy and energy prices, which have shot up in the U.S.
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As the real-world bombardment in the Middle East continues and casualties mount, both sides in the month-old war are also firing off ironic, pop-culture-steeped memes on the online battlefield. Iran's new leaders have quickly assumed an online fighting posture, amping up their memes and pointed attacks on the U.S. and Israel. "What we're seeing is not just a war of weapons, but it's also a war of aesthetics," said Nancy Snow , a professor and author who studies propaganda. "Whoever controls the meme controls the mood." Iran's prime target is President Donald Trump , with state media and top officials alike relentlessly mocking and amplifying criticisms of the U.S. leader. Top members of Iran's parliament, its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and even its president, Masoud Pezeshkian, have sought to insult or undermine Trump in their messaging. And they're using the world's most popular social media platforms, such as Facebook and X, to get the word out. Among the most striking examples: a series of seemingly AI-generated videos depicting Iranian military successes against the U.S. and Israel in a Lego-esque cartoon art style. One shows a panicked Trump ordering an airstrike after reviewing the "Epstein Files" alongside Satan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu . Another, a rap diss track, calls Trump a "loser" and accuses him of being Netanyahu's "puppet" over images of stock market sell-offs, missile strikes and coffins. Those and other messages out of Iran regularly reference Jeffrey Epstein , the notorious late sex offender and former Trump friend at the center of conspiracy theories that the president launched the Iran war to distract the public from headlines about releases of files related to the Epstein investigation. The plain intent of Iran's messaging is not just to project defiance and counter U.S. assessments of Tehran's military weakness, but also to undermine Trump by homing in on some of his biggest political vulnerabilities. "Iran is blend...
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