#2026iranwar — Public Fediverse posts

CNN: Exclusive: US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say. “The intelligence report, circulated across the US military this spring in the midst of the war with Iran, immediately set off alarm bells: A Chinese ship in the Middle East was transporting components of a nuclear weapons program.”

Mother Jones: Killer AI Is Already Here. We’re Using It in Iran.. “The US-Israel war on Iran is not only the least popular war the United States has ever waged, but also represents an unprecedented application of AI in warfare. New data from the Institute for Global Affairs and YouGov shows that the present weaponization of AI has flown under the radar, with most Americans largely unaware of […]

The Conversation: Receipts, memes and supermarket shelves: how Iranians are documenting the economic cost of war online. “On Iranian social media, everyday items are being used to illustrate rampant inflation. Videos juxtapose the purchasing power of the same amount of money from one or two years ago with its current value. People capture supermarket shelves, photograph receipts, and make jokes […]

Mediaite: Pentagon Purges Decades of Classified Documents After WaPo Revealed Top Brass Warned Hegseth. “The Pentagon reportedly removed decades’ worth of classified military documents from a secret network used by defense officials and U.S. troops after The Washington Post revealed that several top military leaders had raised concerns about extending the war with Iran.”

Let’s Data Science: Pentagon Says Grok Supported 2,000 Missile Strikes . “According to reporting by Yahoo and The Independent, Cameron Stanley, the Pentagon’s chief digital and artificial intelligence officer, wrote in a sworn filing that Grok, a generative chatbot developed by xAI, was used to fire more than ‘2,000 munitions at 2,000 distinct targets within 96 hours’ via the government’s Maven […]

CNBC: Iran threatens Elon Musk’s companies in Middle East: Iranian state media. “Iran will treat all of Elon Musk’s companies in the Middle East, including SpaceX’s Starlink internet service, as military targets as it retaliates against the U.S., Iranian state media outlet Fars reported Thursday.”

NBC News: Deal or no deal? Trump’s social media posts add confusion to Iran conflict. “As President Donald Trump’s team was actively working behind the scenes over Memorial Day weekend to deliver an Iran peace deal, the president’s own social posts left a trail of confusion.”

Reuters: Iran’s president orders reopening of international internet access, state media reports. “Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has issued an order to reopen international internet ‌access, Iranian state media reported on Monday, ‌citing an official after a near-90-day blackout in the wake of ​the war against U.S. and Israel.”

KQED: Iran Is Winning The Slopaganda War. “AI-generated LEGO videos have become a tool of war. Since the U.S.-Israel war with Iran began in late February, increasingly elaborate videos featuring LEGO figures and catchy rap lyrics have been flooding our feeds. They’re shareable, surprisingly high quality and they’re deeply critical of the U.S. and Trump. They’re also propaganda. Welcome to […]

@davetroy never underestimate the stupidity of #MAGAts, who keep voting for #WhiteNationalismWhiteSupremacy against their own economic, political, and social interests for years and making the inequality grow to levels never seen before. While tariffs and the stupid #2026IranWar costing everyone thousands of dollars and some even their livelihood the majority of #RepublicanVoters still support the #OrangeFelon and with the gerrymandering in place in red states the #GOP might lose the popular vote by a mile but still win the electoral votes... Thanks to #SCOTUSCorruptus and a basically undemocratic system #YouCantMakeThisShitUp #YouCantFixStupid

@thecontinent

#Iran is welcomed to #TheContinent.

+hashtags: #IranWar #2026IranWar #IranianJournalists #ScrollingWhileDriving

Bloomberg: Iran internet blackout tightens military’s grip on civilian life. “Iran’s record internet blackout is emerging as a key dividing line between the country’s powerful security apparatus and its civilian government, underlining how the war with the U.S. has extended the military’s control over daily life.”

Ars Technica: Crypto scam lures ships into Strait of Hormuz, falsely promising safe passage. “Crypto scammers are targeting the thousands of ships stranded near the Strait of Hormuz—and at least one ship that faced Iranian gunfire may have been tricked into believing it had paid Iran for safe passage.”

CNN: US freezes $344 million in cryptocurrency said to be linked to Iran. “The Trump administration has frozen $344 million in cryptocurrency it says was linked to Iran as the United States ratchets up pressure on Tehran. The move, first reported by CNN, comes as shaky diplomatic efforts to reach a deal to end the war continue to stall and the global economy reels from its impact.”

The Verge: The Iranian women Trump ‘saved’ from execution are simultaneously real and AI-manipulated. “The collage that Trump posted is, at the very least, AI-modified, Mahsa Alimardani, the associate director of the Technology Threats & Opportunities program at WITNESS, told The Verge. But the women themselves are real.”

Apple Insider: Apple Maps did not erase Lebanon towns during Israeli attacks, insists Apple. “Apple Maps is facing another controversy as social media points to alleged removal of sites in Lebanon, but Apple says it never listed them.”

Military.com: Fake AI Photo of F-15 Crew Rescue in Iran Spreads Across Social Media. “A digitally fabricated photograph claiming to show the rescue of an American airman pulled from Iranian territory over Easter weekend drew widespread views online before platform users and fact-checkers identified it as artificial intelligence. Several prominent Republican officials were among those who shared […]

BBC: We spoke to the man making viral Lego-style AI videos for Iran. Experts say it’s powerful propaganda. “For our new BBC podcast, Top Comment, we spoke to a representative of Explosive Media, one of the key accounts generating these clips. He wanted us to refer to him as Mr Explosive. He’s a savvy social media operator who initially denies working for the Iranian government. In previous […]

Mashable: YouTube bans Pro-Iran channel that mocked Donald Trump using viral lego videos. “As the war between the US, Israel, and Iran rages on, a parallel battle is being fought on social media. One of the most talked-about players in this digital propaganda war has been Explosive Media, a group believed to be linked to Iran. Explosive Media grew in popularity because of Lego-style animated […]

The Conversation: Slopaganda wars: how (and why) the US and Iran are flooding the zone with viral AI‑generated noise. “Slopaganda can be understood as a special kind of AI bullshit, but its unique features become clearer when we look at its use in campaigns such as the Iranian Lego videos…. Rather than aiming for accuracy, the slopaganda is expressive and emblematic of feelings and […]

New York Times: How Iran’s Information War Machine Operates Online. This link goes to a gift article. “The New York Times reconstructed how Iran was able to use overt and covert global networks alongside unwitting participants to spread its message through social media, state-affiliated news organizations and American influencers. Here is how the claim went from a single post to a global […]

Associated Press: Well-timed bets on Polymarket tied to the Iran war draw calls for investigations from lawmakers. “Calls are increasing inside Congress for investigations into the prediction market platform Polymarket after the latest instance where groups of anonymous traders made strategic, well-timed bets on a major geopolitical event hours before it occurred.”

Associated Press: Pro-Iran groups have used AI to troll Trump and try to control the war narrative. “Pro-Iran groups have used artificial intelligence to create slick internet memes in English to try to shape the narrative during the war against the U.S. and Israel and foster opposition to it. Analysts say the memes appear to be coming from groups linked to the government in Tehran and are part […]

Bellingcat: When Satellite Imagery Goes Dark: New Tool Shows Damage in Iran and the Gulf. “Shortly after the war in Gaza began in 2023, Bellingcat introduced a free tool authored by University College London lecturer and Bellingcat contributor, Ollie Ballinger, that was able to estimate the number of damaged buildings in a given area. … Bellingcat is now introducing an updated version of the […]

Gizmodo: Fake Videos Are Already Spreading After Two US Air Force Planes Go Down Near Iran. “Photos and videos circulating online show pieces of the wreckage from the first plane, reportedly an F-15E, that appear to be legitimate. But fake images and video about the downed jet are also starting to spread on social media, including one video that purports to show an American pilot captured by […]

Caliber: Iran’s internet blackout surpasses 720 hours, enters fifth week. “Iran’s nationwide internet outage, imposed by authorities, has now lasted 31 days, surpassing 720 hours, internet monitoring group NetBlocks confirmed. The prolonged blackout, continues to cut off most Iranians from access to the global internet, Caliber.Az reports, citing NetBlocks.”

Al Jazeera: US satellite firm Planet Labs announces blackout on war on Iran images. “Satellite imaging company Planet Labs has said it will indefinitely withhold visuals of Iran and the ⁠region of conflict in the Middle East to comply with a request from United States President Donald Trump’s administration.”

Associated Press: Hacked hospitals, hidden spyware: Iran conflict shows how digital fight is ingrained in warfare. “As they fled an Iranian missile strike, some Israelis with Android phones received a text offering a link to real-time information about bomb shelters. But instead of a helpful app, the link downloaded spyware giving hackers access to the device’s camera, location and all its […]