Iranians Turn to Art and Memes as War Rages
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Iranian civilians have maintained a visible presence in streets, parks, and public squares, with gatherings evolving from shock and mourning into ritual — a way of asserting continuity rather than surrendering to the logic of war.
- Musician Ali Ghamsari protested in April by traveling to the Damavand power plant and playing music in front of the facility after Trump threatened Iran's critical infrastructure, with his image entering a broader conversation on civic responsibility.
- Tens of thousands gathered in Tehran in early July for the funeral ceremonies of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a major public display of collective mourning.
- Mohsen Chavoshi's song "Hasbi Allah", with lyrics by Mehdi Abassi, reflects on the human cost of war and attachment to the homeland, drawing on traditions of Iranian poetry, music, and spirituality.
- Religious chants (maddahi) have been repurposed to blend Shia symbolism with love of country and willingness to sacrifice — some referencing Arash the Archer (Arash-e Kamangir) from Persian mythology, who defined Iran's borders with his final arrow.
- AI-generated Lego animations parodying Trump and Netanyahu have gone viral, with some accumulating hundreds of millions of views; overlaid English music suggests they were designed for international audiences, though creators remain anonymous.
- Younger Iranians are using irony, memes, and pop culture references — including a rap repeating "from us remain spirits that live on because they love the homeland" — shifting wartime communication from passive audience to active narrative-builder.
Why it matters: Iran's wartime culture is shifting from official ideological messaging to bottom-up, internet-fluent production — with hundreds of millions of views on anonymous AI parodies carrying Iranian perspectives to English-speaking global audiences as a form of soft power, not battlefield dispatches.
