The New Frontline: How Iran Uses AI to Wage an Information War*

AI-generated videos and images are spreading faster than ever, directly tapping into viewers’ emotions. Even when obviously fake, these clips can go viral, turning complex ideas into instantly digestible visual stories. But the most effective content isn’t funny memes—it’s images pretending to show real battlefield events, often impossible to immediately verify.

Tal Hagin, an information warfare analyst, has tracked hundreds of such posts on X, a platform flooded with war-related misinformation. Many of the videos claiming to depict Iranian attacks on Israel or Gulf countries are old footage, show events elsewhere, or are entirely AI-created. Since a real attack on Tel Aviv on February 28, nearly identical videos and images have been reposted daily, falsely presented as new. Hagin calls it a strategy built on a “kernel of truth” buried under a flood of lies.

Social media amplifies the effect. Melanie Smith, an expert at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, notes that platforms fail to label or remove false content quickly. Posts can rack up millions of views before being flagged, giving disinformation campaigns a massive head start.

While viral videos and memes have long been used in conflicts—seen in Ukraine’s fight against Russian disinformation—the deliberate, large-scale use of AI marks a new era. Smith says this may be the first conflict in which AI is actively used to sow confusion about what is actually happening on the ground.

Regional censorship worsens the problem. In Israel, wartime restrictions block sensitive information like missile positions. In Iran, a total internet blackout in its fourth week has left outsiders largely in the dark. Smith calls it a “major information void,” rapidly filled with artificial content, propaganda, and chaos.

In this digital battlefield, Iran is moving fast. Unable to always dominate militarily, Tehran focuses on shaping perceptions, spreading doubt, and creating uncertainty. Even Trump has accused Iran of using AI-generated “fake news” as a disinformation weapon—though the U.S. itself has faced backlash for videos blending real attacks with movie and video game footage.

Experts say that, for now, Iran is outpacing the U.S. and Israel in reaching audiences and gaining sympathy. The Middle East conflict is no longer just air, land, and sea—it’s unfolding on phones, social media feeds, and in the minds of millions, where reality, propaganda, and fabrication blur more than ever.

Source: Internet