TEHRAN — As the devastating conflict between the U.S., Israel, and Iran continues to rattle global energy markets, a new front has opened in the digital space: a “Lego-style” propaganda war. Iran’s state-run Revayat-e Fath institute has released a high-production animation that uses toy renditions of world leaders and soldiers to frame the narrative of the war that began following the February 28 assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The two-minute video, which has gone viral on X and Meta platforms, marks a surreal shift in wartime communications, utilizing a “child-friendly” aesthetic to depict brutal military strikes and geopolitical scandal.
The “Epstein File” and the Red Button
The animation—which notably contains no dialogue, making it accessible to a global audience—begins with a satirical and biting scene.
- The Antagonists: Lego-style versions of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are depicted alongside a “devil” figure.
- The Catalyst: The trio is shown looking through an album titled the “Epstein file” (an apparent reference to the late Jeffrey Epstein). In the video, a visibly enraged Trump slams a “red button” to initiate the conflict.
- The Strike: The animation shows a missile piercing the clouds and striking a classroom filled with toy schoolgirls in pink headscarves. The scene transitions from a teacher writing “My homeland is my life” on a blackboard to a dark, haunting image of a pink backpack and shoes lying in the rubble.
Rage in the Rubble: The Minab Connection
The emotional core of the video centers on a Lego-inspired Iranian officer who picks up the abandoned backpack and weeps before his grief turns to a cold, calculated rage.
- The Allegation: This scene refers to Iran’s claim that the U.S. and Israel conducted a deadly strike on a school in Minab, southern Iran, on the first day of the war.
- The Verification Gap: While the video has garnered tens of thousands of likes, news agencies like AFP have noted they have been unable to access the site in Minab to independently verify the death toll or the circumstances of the strike.
- The Retaliation: Accompanied by a swelling nationalist score, the final half of the video shows the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) retaliating with a barrage of missiles targeting U.S. and Israeli military interests across the Middle East.
A Digital “Martyr” Tribute
The video concludes with a somber dedication to the students of the Minab strike, referring to them as “martyrs at the hands of Zionist and American terrorists.”
By using toy figures to represent real-world trauma, Tehran appears to be leveraging “meme culture” and recognizable Western imagery to compete with U.S. and Israeli narratives in the court of world public opinion. This comes as President Trump continues to issue warnings to the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth promises the “most intense strikes” to date.