Iran Gains Upper Hand in Propaganda Battle Against Trump Administration

Iran’s AI-Generated Propaganda Videos Mock Trump Administration, Gain Millions of Views

In a striking development in digital propaganda, an Iranian-linked production company has been releasing AI-generated videos depicting political figures like Donald Trump in Lego form, garnering millions of views across social media platforms and potentially shifting online discourse about American foreign policy.

Explosive Media, which counts the Iranian government among its clients, has created dozens of these satirical animations targeting the Trump administration’s foreign policy toward Iran. One particularly notable video shows a tearful Lego Trump walking through rain from a building labeled “Hormuz Strait” to a limousine, where he drinks a Diet Coke while accompanied by a blonde-pigtailed Lego girl. The animation features a taunting soundtrack with lyrics like “Look in the mirror / tell me what you see / big ego crushed / fake reality.”

Other videos in the campaign include equally provocative content: a Lego Pete Hegseth (U.S. Defense Secretary) portrayed as drunk and assaulting a woman, and another showing Lego versions of Trump and Netanyahu conspiring with Satan to bomb a school for girls.

What makes these propaganda efforts particularly effective is their adoption of cultural references that resonate with American audiences. Unlike traditional foreign influence operations, which typically rely on bot networks and targeted advertising to create an illusion of grassroots engagement, Explosive Media has tapped into genuine American public sentiment about an unpopular war and president.

Media analysts suggest that the company has recognized social media’s fundamental principle: content that provokes outrage generates the most engagement. By creating culturally relevant material that mimics Trump’s own confrontational posting style, the Iranian propaganda has achieved viral status. One expert noted the videos succeed because they generate incredulity—the jarring contradiction of a socially conservative Iranian regime using provocative language and imagery that would normally contradict its own domestic policies.

The Trump administration appears to have inadvertently created the conditions for this propaganda’s success. By lowering the standards of political discourse and frequently employing AI-generated content—including videos showing political opponents in compromising situations—Trump’s team established a precedent now being exploited by foreign adversaries. The administration’s focus on “owning the libs” rather than substantive policy discussions has created a template that Iran has effectively replicated.

Social media platforms have struggled to moderate this content. While YouTube has suspended Explosive Media for violations of its violent content and anti-spam policies, much of the material remains accessible on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and Telegram. The videos’ clear satirical nature—no reasonable person would believe these Lego animations represent actual events—makes them difficult to categorize as harmful misinformation under many platform policies.

The U.S. administration has begun recognizing the threat. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently sent instructions to American diplomats to “counter anti-American propaganda.” However, this effort faces challenges because many civil servants previously dedicated to such work were reportedly dismissed due to concerns about “conservative censorship,” according to some political observers.

Rubio specifically suggested diplomats use X.com as an “innovative” tool for counter-messaging—a choice that reveals the administration’s primary concern is not international audiences but American citizens who might be influenced by these foreign-created memes and videos.

The situation highlights the evolving nature of information warfare in the AI era. High-quality creative tools are now widely accessible, allowing foreign governments to produce sophisticated propaganda that can resonate with domestic audiences in ways traditional influence operations never could.

As one line from the viral video sardonically states: “Big ego crushed / fake reality,” perhaps inadvertently summarizing the new information landscape where traditional diplomatic messaging struggles to compete with AI-generated Lego music videos for public attention.