Social media is moving to the forefront of the ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, with political elites from both sides of the conflict using social media as a weapon to fabricate narratives and generate AI videos to publicly denounce the actions of one another, creating a disastrous risk in upholding national security and delaying the long-awaited peace deal.

Social media being a vital contributor to the conflict between the two rival nations creates not only a battle at land and sea, but an online conflict that has reached the screens of many users in real-time.

What caused this tension in the first place? To begin, the U.S. and Israel launched strikes in the joint Operation Epic Fury on Iran in February of 2026 with the purposes to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and dismantling their regime. In launching this attack, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed as the U.S. and Isreal also targeted important Iranian military and missile infrastructure, including the nation’s capital, Tehran.

Conflict erupted across the Middle east, with Iran responding to the operation by launching their own attacks on U.S. and Israel’s allied states in the Gulf. Although the U.S. and Iran came to an agreement to cease fire in April, the Strait of Hormuz remained closed. Iran has repeatedly shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a vital producer of the world’s energy production, and heavily militarized the area, significantly depleting oil distribution to the U.S. and other energy dependent nations.

Calculated missile attacks are not the only damaging force the nations have been battling, as for the digital facet of the conflict, social media has created a new type of warfare.

The enormous presence of social media makes this conflict different than previous conflicts because of the transparent and impulsive delivery of both nations posts. Both domestic and international politics accompanied by the ongoing tension are catching the attention of social media users across the world.

Social media has fostered a politically dominant environment. With tools like social media at the hands of billions, access to political information has never been more obtainable; however, especially when it comes to political events, it has become a breeding ground for disinformation and misinformation to spread. The digital world updates but misleads the public on wartime topics, additionally the two battling nations are using these platforms to their advantage to intimidate and criticize one another, escalating tensions and pressure to reach a peace deal.

How is social media being used amidst the conflict? Social media is weaponized to undermine and condemn the actions taken by the nations during the overseas conflict. A severe threat to peacemaking that Iran uses is the spread of disinformation and misinformation amidst the conflict. Unorthodox, yet effective, actions taken by Iran include the AI-generated videos of President Trump and his administration. But as social media and AI become more powerful, Iran is taking advantage of these technologies to dominate the digital sphere.

The Iranian regime has been promoting damaging AI-generated videos to shift narratives and support their public disapproval of the U.S. A prominent example being the viral animated Lego videos depicting controversial scandals in the U.S., such as the Epstein files, as well as scenarios that feature members of Trump’s cabinet launching attacks on Iran. Not only is President Trump included in a majority of these animations, but editors included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accompanying Trump in his attacks on Iran. Iran’s efforts have gained traction on social platforms by mocking and successfully utilizing America’s pop culture strategies to their advantage. Videos like these only escalate the tension.

As for President Trump’s use of social media, his response to the recent claim Iran’s foreign minister made on X, Abbas Araghchi, that an agreement with the U.S. “has never been closer” shows just how destructive social media can be during times of escalated international tension.

Trump posted on Truth Social, CBS reports, that Iran’s portrayal of the peace agreement, that has not yet been confirmed, has “NOTHING to do with the terms that were agreed to, in writing” with Iranian leaders. Since political elites communicate incorrect information and report potential negotiations on social media, viewers are misled and potential peacemaking between the two powerful nations is nearly impossible to achieve, demonstrating the danger of public media during times of political crisis.

Threats on social media only rationalize the anger of the opposing nation. Iran has proved to have the upper hand in their posting on social media, successfully shaping and backing up narratives about the U.S. and Israel to impact global public opinion, painting an image of two warmongering nations focused on destroying Iran and killing all of its people. As evidence for the nation’s claim, Iran references Trump’s post on Truth Social made in April warning and threatening Iran that their “whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran did not comply with his demands.

On the contrary, recent public opinion perceives social media as an accessible source of political and international information that otherwise would be unknown to the public. This belief asserts that world peace is more achievable given the real-time updates social platforms such as X provide to users; however, misinformation, disinformation as well as political elite’s growing reliance on social media to denounce foreign counterparts in times of crisis outweigh the benefits of politically charged social media platforms because of the escalated tension it creates during times of international crisis.

Social media is an extreme and growing threat to the escalating tension between Iran and the U.S. The public is growing increasingly susceptible to misinformation and disinformation while the two nations compete for superior nuclear programs and the status of the Strait of Hormuz.

Political elites utilize and rely on such platforms to reach both domestic and international audiences, delaying positive outcomes between the two nations. With gas prices at an all-time and the fate of the Strait of Hormuz remaining unknown, social media influence from the two powerful nations leaves the efforts towards potential peacemaking stagnate.