The Algorithm and the Ayatollah: Iran’s Cinematic Propaganda War

High above Valiasr Avenue in Tehran, Donald Trump’s mouth is sewn shut with a blue veil shaped like the Strait of Hormuz. Accompanied by the state-approved English slogan At the breaking point, this towering image was erected in early May as negotiations over the vital maritime choke point stalled. With a quarter of the world’s oil supply transiting through the strait, the Iranian regime is eager to project unyielding dominance. Yet, the medium betrays the message. Tehran’s latest wave of wartime propaganda relies less on genuine public fervor and more on artificial intelligence and Hollywood aesthetics to mask the harsh realities of its conflict with the United States and Israel.

The Islamic Republic has long treated the capital’s concrete walls as a canvas for its ideological decrees. During the Iran-Iraq War, local art students and grieving families painted murals of fallen soldiers, rooted in the traditional Persian storytelling practice of pardeh-khani. Today, that organic, albeit grim, civic engagement has been replaced by a highly centralized industrial operation. Government entities, such as the House of Islamic Revolution Designers and the Tehran Municipality, now commission digitally rendered banners that can be printed and hung in hours. The regime has essentially swapped the paintbrush for the algorithm, churning out high-resolution defiance at a frantic pace.

This digital pivot allows the state to rapidly mythologize its mounting losses. Following fatal strikes by US and Israeli forces, the regime quickly plastered the city with cinematic tributes to its casualties. When Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in the initial strikes on February 28, billboards promptly appeared showing him alongside the republic's founder, Ruhollah Khomeini, handing the national flag to his son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei. A month later, after former Revolutionary Guard Navy commander Alireza Tangsiri died in an Israeli bombing, he was resurrected on a Fatemi Square facade. Rendered in a style heavily mimicking the Argonath statues from The Lord of the Rings fantasy franchise, Tangsiri and 1915 national hero Rais Ali Delvari are depicted as colossal stone sentinels guarding the Strait of Hormuz against Western warships.

While the state tightly controls the internet to restrict the flow of authentic civilian images, it actively encourages international news agencies to photograph these blockbuster displays. The goal is twofold: project an image of absolute control to foreign adversaries and manufacture a sense of epic historical continuity for domestic consumption. Posters of Iranian drones shattering the Star of David or crowds demanding the destruction of America are designed to look like inevitable victories.

However, the sheer size and volume of these banners do little to guarantee civilian buy-in. Anthropological researchers studying Tehran's urban landscape observe that the city's residents have lived under this visual bombardment for decades and largely tune it out. The regime might command the skyline with artificial intelligence and fantasy tropes, but the ground level tells a different story. In the shadows of these towering digital martyrs, ordinary Tehranis continue to engage in quiet subversion, reclaiming their streets through fleeting graffiti and subtle acts of erasure before the state’s beautification bureaus can print the next heroic fantasy.

Written by Thorben Thiede thorben.thiede@alpineweekly.com