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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/business/media/iran-state-tv-social-media-war-ai.html
Iranian TV and Social Media Project Defiant and Distorted View of the War
(New York Times) Tiffany Hsu - On Iran's official television networks and affiliated or sympathetic social media accounts, the country is striving to present a resolute image. It is waging an information war blending fact and fiction, often using unproven claims and fake videos generated using artificial intelligence. In Tehran's telling, Iranian missiles have ravaged Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities, its jets have decimated an American aircraft carrier, and hundreds of Americans have been killed at bases and embassies around the region. The messages present the country as not only fighting back but winning. One senior official said on state television that its "extensive and successful operation" against Israel and other countries had "left all military experts in awe." Moustafa Ayad, a researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue in London, said Iran "is flooding the zone with content that projects strength in the wake of attacks on Iran - and it's similarly distorting the picture of what is actually happening inside the country."