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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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A lull in the fighting between the United States and Iran has not stopped U.S. President Donald Trump from using artificial intelligence-generated images to threaten Tehran, a tactic he is using more frequently, with the Islamic Republic responding in kind.
After the U.S. suspended bombing Iran following 13 days of airstrikes and retaliatory attacks by Tehran across the region, Trump posted AI-generated images of Iran’s ships and energy infrastructure being blown up and taken over by the U.S. military.
Iranian mockery of the U.S. has been ongoing and includes AI-made movies of Lego figures ridiculing U.S. forces, as a new front in the war removed from the aerial bombardments and maritime blockades of the Strait of Hormuz.
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Michał Klincewicz, a cognitive science expert, told Newsweek he believed Tehran was winning the AI war against the U.S.
A paper he co-wrote last year used the term "slopaganda" to refer to AI-generated "slop" that serves propagandistic purposes. "They (Iran) are changing the narrative, creating more viral, shareable content, thereby outmaneuvering the U.S. in the realm of cognitive warfare," he said.
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Trump’s Latest Images
Trump has been using AI imagery about global and domestic political issues, but regarding the war in Iran, he upped the ante. As Tehran and Washington are deadlocked over the conflict, which started on February 28 with American and Israeli strikes, Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday a series of AI-generated Iran-war-themed images
They included one showing warplanes bombing an oil facility with the caption “STRIKE ON KHARG,” referring to Iran’s main oil export hub. Several images in quick succession were captioned “It’s Our Oil Tanker now!”
Another showed an explosion on a tanker which had "Iran" on the side, with the message "goodbye engine room." A different image showed Trump looking ahead next to explosions by Iranian flags above the caption "Guardian of the World."
On April 29, when negotiations over a ceasefire with Tehran had stalled, Trump released an AI-generated image of himself holding an assault rifle with the message "no more Mr. Nice Guy," in a message to Tehran.
Not to be outdone, Iran released an apparently AI-made movie using Lego figures in which a U.S. soldier crawls out of a crashed helicopter on Kharg Island and, struggling in the heat, comes across an Iranian soldier smiling and drinking tea.
“Too hot for you softie. Go back to the AC,” reads the message.
A video circulated in March which appeared to be AI-generated, showing Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looking over a folder titled "Jeffrey Epstein File," as they stood next to Satan, suggesting the joint U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign was intended as a distraction from the Epstein investigation.
Wired reported that the videos, which have had millions of views, are produced by Explosive Media, a group of young Iranians well versed in U.S. popular culture who have been linked to the Iranian government.
On July 23, Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to the clips, saying that Iran was not ready to do a deal, “but they will be soon. Because the price they are paying is very high, despite their tough talk and flowery language and stupid LEGO videos.”
The next day, a clip called Rubio "a little clown "and a "little lap dog stuck under the loser's thumb."
“Relative to Iran's Lego campaign, the White House slopaganda is of significantly lower quality and, in my opinion, has lower impact,” said Klincewicz. “The White House is primarily focused on the domestic U.S. audience, it seems, and its own voter base—boomer memes for boomers, basically.”
Cory Alpert, who has written about how Trump uses AI during the Iran War, told Newsweek that much of the concern about AI-generated images is focused on misinformation and disinformation and that people would believe things that are objectively untrue.
He said: “The way that Trump uses these images presents another problem entirely. He is trying to give his audience a sense of what might be true, of this kind of fictional reality that he wants them to believe in.
"He is a master storyteller who continues to use these new tools to give them a political world in which they can live.”
Alpert believes that Iran is doing much the same thing with Lego movies, which give a visual language that became important around the No Kings protests, where American anti-Trump protestors picked up on the Lego visuals.
“It’s a tactic that’s built for the current era of media consumption. These videos can be clipped and shared, and the visual language becomes something that other people who are also consuming this content can understand around each other,” Alpert said.
What Is 'Slopaganda'?
In an article he co-wrote for The Conversation, Klincewicz described how slopaganda was effective through repeated exposure in legacy and social media because it penetrates our usual mental defenses.
It grabs attention and is delivered to a distracted audience, such as those scrolling on social media or browsing websites. It is a very effective way of diluting the world of what we think we know with falsehoods and half-truths, known as the "epistemic environment."
Rather than aiming for accuracy, the slopaganda provokes feelings and emotions, and creates an association, like Satan being associated with Trump. Once misleading information enters someone’s mind, it can be hard to shake.
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Klincewicz said in The Conversation piece that slopaganda may make people doubt everything else and be more likely to misidentify authentic content as slop, which could erode public trust in individuals and institutions.
After the first U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, the White House posted a video on March 6 of real American attacks mixed with clips from movies, TV, and video games.
Iran then posted outdated war footage allegedly from the current conflict alongside AI-generated content depicting attacks on Tel Aviv and US bases in the Persian Gulf.
Klincewicz told Newsweek he believes slopaganda will be a part of the information campaign in both the Iran war and future conflicts. "It is here to stay, and it is a new quality, significantly different from other forms of propaganda we have seen before."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick, Sam Wilson and Cristina Diciu.
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