Since the war between the United States and Iran began nearly two months ago, the conflict has extended beyond the battlefield and into social media feeds. Across X, several official Iranian embassy accounts have amassed hundreds of thousands of followers while adopting a striking new tactic: meme warfare.
While there have long been accusations that Iran uses anonymous “bot” accounts to push propaganda, its new strategy with many of its official embassy accounts is far more blatant and transparent. Since early March, many of these accounts have shifted from sharing Iranian news or embassy-related information to posting aggregated headlines, AI-generated content, memes, snarky commentary, and personal attacks aimed at maximizing likes, reposts, and impressions.
Without seeing the name of the account, one might assume it belongs to a Gen-Z partisan influencer rather than a government run by religious fundamentalists who are wary of the West.
Creative content includes everything from Lego-style war videos to Jeffrey Epstein cast as the devil manipulating Trump into war — pushed across more than 70 accounts reaching over 1.1 million followers.
They are leveraging the algorithm to attack the United States, President Donald Trump, and Israel — and doing so effectively.
One of the most inflammatory posts came from the Iranian embassy in Tajikistan on Tuesday, which shared a video depicting Jesus killing President Trump by punching him into a fiery pit — racking up 11.9 million views and 78,000 likes.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth called the effort “disgusting” and “detached from reality” Thursday in response to a question from The Daily Wire’s White House Correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan.
“Iran says a lot of things in the propaganda space based on complete lies,” he said.
What explains the shift in strategy? The answer lies in both technology and audience.
As Iranian citizens remain in a near-total internet blackout now nearing 50 days, these official government accounts moved in the opposite direction.
Before Operation Epic Fury, many of these Iranian embassy accounts posted sparingly, often fewer than 10 times a day. Then a switch flipped. Data from 69 of the accounts shows a clear surge to between 50 and 200 posts per day, flooding feeds with a nonstop stream of content, according to data compiled by Network Contagion Research Institute and shared with The Daily Wire.
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That output is powered in large part by the rapid rise of generative AI. Content that would have required significant time, money and production resources can now be created cheaply and almost instantly. It relies heavily on what has come to be known as “AI slop” — low-cost, mass-produced AI-generated content that prioritizes speed and virality over polish or accuracy.
Much of the slopaganda still carries a distinctly American tone, closely tracking U.S. political discourse and online trends. This includes the embassies weighing in on controversies within pro-Trump circles, including a recent episode in which President Trump shared — and later deleted — a post that depicted him as Jesus healing someone.
The Iranian embassy in Tunis has also tapped into American military humor, posting a meme built around the U.S. military’s own joking nickname for the Air Force — the “Chair Force” — showing American pilots ejecting from their jets. The timing was notable: it came shortly after a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iran in early April.
These accounts produce a steady stream of posts calibrated to the rhythm of the American news cycle, echoing trending topics and even internal political debates. This results in them frequently going viral.
That pattern is borne out in the data: an analysis of 18,246 tweets shows a spike in mentions of the United States, Israel and President Trump beginning in early March, coinciding with the broader surge in posting activity and the start of the conflict.
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One of the Tajikistan-based account’s most viral posts was a video using a popular meme format, depicting Israel slamming the United States’ face into a balloon meant to represent Iran — only for it to refuse to pop. Set to the Jewish song “Hava Nagila,” the clip drew roughly 3 million views.
Another post from the Iranian embassy in Tajikistan reached more than a million viewers. It featured a crudely produced video depicting Jeffrey Epstein as the devil whispering in President Trump’s ear, urging him to attack podcasters Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Alex Jones and to start wars. The video concluded with a song by the American rapper Eminem.
One of the most prominent embassy accounts accused of being used by Iran’s Islamic regime is its mission to South Africa. With more than 168,000 followers, the account posts dozens of times a day and frequently goes viral, particularly when mocking President Trump.
In a Wednesday post, the account shared an AI-generated image depicting Trump as a baby playing a video game titled “Hormuz Strait.”
“Not a game, kiddo,” the account wrote alongside the image.
In another post, the account shared an AI-generated video portraying Trump as an ’80s-style singer with a mullet, performing a parody of Desireless’s Voyage Voyage, renamed Blockade with the lyrics: “If you block me, then I block you.” The video received 8.9 million views, 13,000 reposts, and 56,000 likes.
The message was echoed by the Iranian consulate in Hyderabad, India, which shared a map of the Strait of Hormuz declaring, “Iran will block the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.” This post that drew over 750,000 views. The Iranian embassy in Bulgaria posted a cartoon of President Trump wedged in the Strait and shouting “I can’t breathe!” — a post that drew roughly 2.7 million views.
A post from the Iranian embassy in Zimbabwe portrayed President Trump as a pirate in a fictional “Pedoflix” movie poster titled “Pirates of the Hormuz,” set against burning ships and chaos at sea, alongside the caption: “But they’re still just wandering around in the Indian Ocean.” The post drew over 196,500 views.
Another post from the Iranian Embassy in South Africa comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler received 75,000 views and 6,000 likes just under two hours after posting. It was joined with the caption: “Of course, this comparison is an insult to Hitler.”
The account also interacts with other X users in a highly unusual manner for a government-run account, at times sounding more like an edgy teenager in a YouTube comment section than a diplomatic mission.
In a March post, the official Iranian embassy account in South Africa responded to a moderately followed user — purporting to be a political analyst from the United Arab Emirates — who had directed profanity at Iran’s spokesperson, writing: “I humbly ask you to shut your filthy mouth, you who are filthier than a dog.”
The regime has been explicit about why it is weaponizing social media. In a post on Tuesday, the Iranian embassy in South Africa described social media as one of several “fronts of resistance,” alongside the battlefield, the streets and negotiations. These accounts are not just a sideshow, but a coordinated front in the conflict using modern propaganda warfare.
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