Banned Iranian propaganda video using AI-generated Lego goes viral

Americans love the internet, rap music, and Lego.

But somehow, Iran has taken advantage of what experts say is a highly successful wartime propaganda campaign aimed at discrediting the United States and its president.

A series of artificial intelligence-powered animated videos produced by foreign companies have gone viral on social media, racking up millions of views in an attempt to capitalize on legitimate questions about President Donald Trump’s disorderly rhetoric, the Epstein file, and Israel’s influence on U.S. foreign policy.

Emma Bryant, a British expert on information warfare and propaganda, said: “These new technologies allow Iran to leverage its culture in ways it has not been able to do before.” “Even five years ago, it would have been very, very difficult to try to make something that was culturally interesting and resonated with Western audiences.”

Unlike much heavy-handed Iranian propaganda, this video is catchy and visually appealing, deftly using colorful cartoon imagery and rap lyrics to soften its extreme claims.

One video begins with a Lego version of Mr. Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a demonic figure sitting together looking through a folder labeled “Epstein Files.” President Trump then pressed a button and launched a missile emblazoned with the American flag. Missile hits school in Iran.

And it’s set to rap music.

In another, a British voice raps: “America is a 250-year-old civilization of war, greed and profit. Countries born of war die of war. Iran is a 7,000-year-old civilization.”

This week, a video was released in which President Trump attacked the Pope and mocked him for posting an image of himself as Jesus.

The video is infused with anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories. “Your government is run by pedophiles,” goes the chorus. “They commanded you to die for Israel.”

The campaign has reached a global audience and is landing just as the United States is abandoning several programs aimed at boosting its image and responding to propaganda abroad. Last year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the dissolution of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which was designed to warn against foreign propaganda and send America’s message around the world.

Last week, the State Department promoted a new initiative to use the X Platform to counter foreign propaganda. Experts noted that X is a US-led platform that is seen as increasingly leaning towards the political right.

A State Department spokesperson told MS NOW that the State Department is aware of Iranian propaganda circulating on the internet and “continues to engage in useful interagency collaboration with intelligence agencies and the military” to combat adversaries spreading anti-American propaganda.

“Rather than spreading lies and propaganda, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism should immediately halt its malign activities, end its support for terrorism, abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions, and address the catastrophic failures in Iran’s economic, agricultural, water and power infrastructure that are plaguing the Iranian people,” the spokesperson said.

“The regime’s reckless priorities have brought nothing but misery to the Iranian people while threatening global security. The Lego video does not erase the last 47 years of terrorism.”

Government officials dispute the State Department’s finding that it “dismissed” foreign disinformation.

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The White House did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.

Explosive Media, the company that produced the Lego video, confirmed to the BBC that the Iranian government is a client. One of the creators said he used Lego animation because it’s a “world language.” YouTube banned the video this week, but it’s already circulating on X, TikTok, Instagram and other social media platforms.

Bryant said the Trump administration is making Iran’s job easier by talking about the war in extreme and unprecedented ways, including Trump’s threats to destroy Iranian civilization and White House videos downplaying bombings and killings.

“The most disturbing thing about this is what the president has done to completely distract the world from the way the Iranian regime has been slaughtering its own people for months now,” Bryant said.

“The story has completely changed and this propaganda has been fueled and now everything is about Trump.”

Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said he is just as concerned, if not more, about Iran’s covert propaganda efforts.

“While the public is primarily focused on Iran’s overt propaganda, we are concerned that Iran’s covert influence efforts are having a far greater impact and that there is no remaining capability within the intelligence community to effectively track or disrupt them,” Warner told MS NOW in a statement.

“Since 2020, Iranian actors have repeatedly infiltrated social and political movements in the United States, impersonating domestic organizations and manipulating unsuspecting Americans,” Warner said.

“With the closure of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force and ODNI’s Center for Foreign Adverse Effects, and the decline in the priority of countering covert foreign influence more broadly, it should be assumed that much of this activity continues without adequate visibility or response from the U.S. government.”

Army Secretary Pete Hegseth was asked Thursday to respond to another Iranian-backed AI-generated video satirizing President Trump’s Yes Post.

“It’s disgusting and out of touch with reality,” he said. “Iran has said a lot of things in the propaganda arena that are completely false, and their actions have also been false.

“They’re going to misrepresent, lie and fabricate in a variety of ways that we’re used to. Ultimately, they need to come to the table and make an agreement.”

Ken Dilanian

Ken Dilanian is MS NOW’s justice and intelligence correspondent.

julia jester

Julia Jester covers politics for MS NOW and is based in Washington, DC