Have you seen the latest viral hit by Iran’s propaganda machine? Even if you haven’t, you should if you want to understand exactly what this revolution means. Iran’s media strategy has undergone an alarmingly profound shift in recent years.
Anyone who remembers the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s will remember propaganda machines rooted in blood and holiness: giant posters of Ruhollah Khomeini staring out into the horizon, images of martyrs illuminated by lights, and clips of young recruits running through minefields wearing religious headbands. It was heavy, religious, analogue propaganda, designed primarily for domestic consumption to incite the masses and force obedience.
Years have passed. Despite the general assumption that the Islamic regime continues to freeze its propaganda strategy in time, the Iranian government has realized something important. That is, today’s global Generation Z does not speak Khamenei’s language. They are not impressed by old-fashioned portraits of elderly clerics, and certainly not by military parades of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Young, westernized audiences want something completely different. It’s about communicating eye-to-eye, in short, conveying a colorful and catchy message, preferably in English.
There is evolution here. Iran’s security establishment is acutely aware of who is now driving discourse on social media, from TikTok to Instagram, and has taken a sharp U-turn. They understand that the path to influencing world opinion and public opinion lies not in lecturing about Islam, but in deciphering the algorithms of Western culture itself.
From Legos to Memes: The New Aesthetics of Dictatorship
Iran’s new propaganda is “soft,” pervasive, and terrifyingly sophisticated. Instead of black and white propaganda reels, artificial intelligence (AI) is now widely used to create animations. For example, an innocent-looking colorful Lego video that spreads a complex political message.
Why Lego? This is because it is a “universal language”. It looks friendly, it looks neutral, and it bypasses the viewer’s mind filter. When young people in Los Angeles, London, and Tel Aviv encounter such animated clips, they don’t see the Revolutionary Guards. They look at content that feels familiar, accessible, and light.
The use of double-meaning memes and emojis is a new weapon in the war for consciousness. Iran isn’t just tapping into internet culture. It imitates it perfectly. Their ability to take a serious issue, wrap it in the visual language of Gen Z, and spread it as if it were an organic internet trend shows only one thing. That means there are talented English-speaking young people in the Revolutionary Guards propaganda organization who understand the nuances of TikTok trends and the dynamics of global protests.
New Iran: No longer seeking admiration, but manipulation
In the past, Iranian propaganda tried to convince the world of the correctness of its religious path. Today, the goals are completely different. It is about causing confusion and undermining reality itself.
Gen Z doesn’t have to love Iran. All they need to do is be suspicious of other sources of information, adopt the narratives offered to them through Legos and memes, and unwittingly become ambassadors for their own message. They seek to pit the West’s own openness against ideology by using the most advanced tools of Western technology to spread their ideology.
This transition from Khamenei’s face to sophisticated AI clips is a warning sign for anyone involved in open source intelligence and media analysis. The enemy is no longer hiding behind the iron curtain of ancient religious ideologies. They sit in air-conditioned offices in Tehran, writing prompts for Midjourney and leading a war in which AI has become as important a strategic weapon as the nation’s ballistic missiles.
The generation currently controlling Tehran’s messaging knows Western norms from the inside. They know that in an era when the word “truth” is in flux, the global narrative is dictated by those who create the most visual, most entertaining, and most viral content. Iran has stopped preaching. Instead, engineering awareness began.
The author is an independent researcher and lecturer specializing in Iranian streets, civil protests, and Iranian youth.
