Staff ReportsIran’s state-controlled outlets have escalated from missiles to mental manipulation, rolling out AI-generated propaganda designed to shock and mislead the American public. Recent clips—one grotesque Lego-style animation that trots out a Satan figure alongside caricatures of President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu—are not artful satire but blunt instruments meant to inflame and confuse. This is a foreign regime weaponizing cuteness and outrage to seed doubt in our institutions and poison everyday conversations.
Washington has already recognized the threat: U.S. officials imposed sanctions on Iranian groups accused of running sophisticated disinformation campaigns aimed at American voters and civic trust. Those designations underline that this is not the work of fringe bloggers but coordinated state-linked efforts to manipulate public opinion. If the regime can turn TikTok and Instagram into vectors for its agendas, the first line of defense must be decisive government action paired with penalties for repeat offenders.
Big Tech’s platforms are the delivery system for this assault, and they have repeatedly failed to stop AI fakes from spreading to millions of Americans. Investigations show AI-produced pro-Iran content has reached massive audiences, exploiting every viral trick to bypass moderation and stoke tribal fears. The woke executives who run these platforms must answer for allowing hostile foreign influence to thrive in the very spaces where Americans gather and form opinions.
The imagery being pushed is predictably cruel: classrooms, children’s backpacks in rubbled scenes, and other emotive triggers packaged into shorthand propaganda to make viewers feel, not think. Fact-checkers and independent analysts have flagged many of these clips as AI-manipulated or recycled footage dressed up as breaking events, yet the initial damage is done the moment they go viral. Conservatives should be the first to call out both the moral depravity of those who craft such lies and the irresponsibility of platforms that monetize them.
Make no mistake: Tehran’s resort to psychological warfare is a symptom of strategic weakness, not strength. As sanctions bite and military options squeeze the regime, Iran is doubling down on asymmetric tactics meant to distract and demoralize Western publics. Our response must reflect that reality—diplomatic pressure, targeted sanctions on propaganda arms, and an international coalition to expose and isolate these operations.
At home, conservatives should demand immediate reforms: forceful enforcement of foreign state media bans where appropriate, transparency from social platforms about algorithmic promotion of incendiary content, and legal accountability for outfits that knowingly amplify hostile disinformation. We need policies that protect the information space as surely as we protect our borders, because a nation that loses the narrative loses its will. There is no room for naïveté or neutrality when foreign adversaries are actively trying to turn our fellow citizens against one another.
Patriots must also do their part by refusing to be gullible amplifiers of outrage; verify, think, and then share. Call out the propaganda when you see it, hold your representatives and platform CEOs to account, and back leaders who treat information warfare as the national security emergency it is. This is a fight for the soul of our country, and conservatives should lead with clarity, courage, and the conviction that truth and unity are the best defense against foreign malice.
