Pro-Iran groups have used artificial intelligence to create slick internet memes in English to try to shape the narrative during the war against the US and Israel and foster opposition to it.
Analysts say the memes appear to be coming from groups linked to the government in Tehran and are part of a strategy of leveraging its limited resources to inflict damage on the US, even indirectly. That includes how Iran has used attacks and threats to control the flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and maintain a stranglehold on the world’s economy. A ceasefire raised hopes Wednesday of halting hostilities, but many issues remained unresolved.
"This is a propaganda war for them,” Neil Lavie-Driver, an AI researcher at the University of Cambridge, said, referring to Iran. "Their goal is to sow enough discontent with the conflict as to eventually force the West to cave in, so it is massively important to them.”
It's not the first time memes have been used in a conflict, and they have evolved to include AI images in recent years. AI imagery bombarded Ukrainians after the Russian invasion in 2022. Last year, the term "AI slop” became widely used to describe the glut of imperfect images posted online during the Israel-Iran war to try to destroy the country’s nuclear program.
In the conflict that began February 28 with joint US-Israel strikes, the memes have used well-honed cartoons that lambast US officials.
The memes are steeped in American culture
The memes are fluent not just in English but in American culture and trolling. Published on various social platforms, they are racking up millions of views – though it’s not clear how much influence they have had.
They have portrayed US President Donald Trump as old, out of step and internationally isolated. They have referenced bruising on the back of Trump's right hand that prompted speculation about his health; infighting in Trump's MAGA base; and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s fiery confirmation hearing, among other things.
"They’re using popular culture against the No.1 pop culture country, the United States,” said Nancy Snow, a scholar who has written more than a dozen books on propaganda.
The pro-Iran images circulating online include a series that uses the style of the Lego animated movies. In one, an Iranian military commander raps, "You thought you ran the globe, sitting on your throne. Now we turning every base into a bed of stone,” as Trump falls into a bullseye built of "Epstein files,” the US government’s investigative records on disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Analysts believe groups making the memes are cooperating with the government
The animations show levels of sophistication and internet access that indicate ties to government offices, said Mahsa Alimardani, a director of WITNESS, a human-rights group working on AI video evidence.
"If you’re able to have the bandwidth needed to generate content like that and upload it, you are officially or unofficially cooperating with the regime,” she said – pointing to severe restrictions Iran has imposed on the internet as part of a crackdown on nationwide protests earlier this year.
State media has reposted some of the memes, including some from the account behind the Lego-style videos, Akhbar Enfejari, which means Explosive News.
Akhbar Enfejari described themselves as Iranians producing and uploading from within Iran in an effort to disrupt decades-long dominance of Western control of the airwaves.
"They’ve long dominated the media landscape and, through that power, imposed narratives on many nations,” the group told The Associated Press on the messaging app Telegram. "But this time, something feels different. This time, we’ve disrupted the game. This time, we’re doing it better.”
After the ceasefire was announced, Akhbar Enfejari posted: "IRAN WON! The way to crush imperialism has been shown to the world. Trump Surrendered.”
In addition to the memes coming from pro-Iran groups, Iranian government accounts have trolled the US, including in a post Wednesday from Iran's Embassy in South Africa that said, "Say hello to the new world superpower,” with a picture of the Iranian flag. Both the US and Iran declared victory after agreeing to a ceasefire.
Analysts say the deep grasp of US politics and culture is the fruit of more old-school methods of propaganda: a decades-long Iranian government program to promote narratives against the US and Israel.
"This meme war comes from institutions that are very aware what the American public is aware of and pop cultural references that can appeal to them,” Alimardani said.
Analysts say the US and Israel do not appear to be engaging in the same kind of campaign – and given the restrictions Iran has put on internet access in the country, getting such messages to ordinary Iranians would be difficult.
The US government-run Voice of America, which for decades beamed news reports to many countries that had no tradition of a free press, does still broadcast in Farsi, though it has been operating with a skeleton staff since Trump ordered it shut down.
"This world order is really changing overnight and the U.S. is not going to end up necessarily as the state that everybody listens to,” Snow said. – AP
