The United States military may not have launched any new attack on Iran over the weekend, but President Donald Trump stepped up his pressure campaign with a bombardment of AI-driven posts on his Truth Social platform, declaring the obliteration of the Islamic Republic. The post projecting Uncle Sam’s domination in the Middle East included a graphic on Iran’s supposed collapsing oil exports, a threat to attack Tehran’s economic lifeline on Kharg, and a map of the Middle East with Iran carved out in the outline of Trump’s face.
Iran has effectively shut down the crucial artery for global energy supplies, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes, in retaliation for the war Trump started along with Israel in late February. The shipping disruptions have been threatening to push up oil prices worldwide, with the Trump administration altering war goals to keep oil moving through the waterway while maintaining pressure on Iran. One post showed the outline of Trump’s side profile superimposed on a map of Iran, underscoring the increasingly personal tone in the US president’s messaging over the conflict.
He also shared a dramatic AI-generated image showing an aircraft bombing an oil well, with the caption, “Bye Bye, Kharg.”
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has acted as chief negotiator in talks to end the war, said that “the era of proportionate responses has come to an end. Tehran’s top security chief, meanwhile, said Iran would establish a “prohibited zone” near the Strait of Hormuz in the coming days.
