What in the World - How the White House is using hype videos to sell the Iran war

Download How the White House is using hype videos to sell the Iran war

The White House is stepping up their social media promotion on the war in Iran... with memes. Clips from the NFL, Spongebob Squarepants and Call of Duty have all been spliced together with scenes military strike footage from the Iran war, racking up millions of views on TikTok. President Trump’s team say it’s a modern way to get their message across to young audiences and show their military successes, but the comments show that not everyone agrees, and some argue that it trivialises the human cost of war.

Anthony Zurcher, the BBC’s North America correspondent, explains it all - and tells us how this compares to the tactics previous US governments have used to depict conflicts. And social psychology Professor Sander van der Linden, who’s from Cambridge University, tells us how these hype videos can affect our perception of the war.

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Presenter: Iqra Farooq
Producers: Emily Horler, Chelsea Coates and Mora Morrison
Editors: Verity Wilde

Published on Friday, 20th March 2026.

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