Darren Linville

The Iranians have been putting out a great deal of propaganda around the ongoing war.

They have really done a great job of tapping into the language of the internet.

A lot of their content is tongue-in-cheek, it's irreverent,

What is powerful about the propaganda that the Iranians have been putting out is that it spreads organically.

It's connecting with people that are frustrated with the Trump administration and with Israel.

It's connecting with an audience that's frustrated with the ongoing war.

They don't need to use their own resources, their own trolls, to get their message out because they have a message that, frankly, people want to hear.

What's amazing to me is that Iran, this theocratic regime, is managing to paint themselves as the good guy.

And a lot of that is through the propaganda that they're spreading.

You know, the Trump administration continues to fight a political battle.

They're engaging in the same kind of politics that they've been doing for years.

Their messaging is targeting their base and they've been fairly successful there.

Meanwhile, the Iranians are fighting a global war.

They have been really successful at using digital media to make this conflict much more painful for Israel and for the United States.

They do seem to be young people with their fingers on the pulse of the Internet.

I think it's very likely they have some ties to the Iranian regime.

But I think a lot of people have this image of Iran as a cloistered theocratic regime that is insular.

But the reality is a lot of Iranians study abroad.

A lot of Iranians engage in social media.

Iran runs a major media conglomerate in their state media system.