PressTV is the Iranian regime’s propaganda channel, which broadcasts in both English and Hebrew, vilifying the U.S. and Israel.

When mass protests erupted across Iran in late December 2025, driven by economic collapse and public fury at the regime, the Islamic Republic responded on two fronts simultaneously. Security forces killed thousands in the streets. But the regime’s propaganda apparatus launched an equally aggressive campaign, designed not just to survive the crisis, but to turn it into a weapon against its foreign enemies.

A detailed analysis published in February 2026 by the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) documents how Tehran deployed a structured, phased information warfare strategy during the December 2025 to January 2026 protests. The findings reveal a regime that treats narrative control as essential to its survival and never stops targeting Israel and the West. At the same time, many of its own citizens despise the government so much that they are willing to risk being shot for a chance to speak out against it.

Iran’s information warfare apparatus developed as a practical response to the country’s conventional military limitations. Iran’s primary enemies are the US and Israel, and it has long been believed that Iran could not beat the US in a direct military conflict. Consequently, the regime has made information warfare a central strategic pillar of its survival.

The system combines ideological messaging, psychological pressure, targeted disinformation, media management, and digital network coordination to shape how domestic and foreign audiences perceive events. Its goals are consistent: to portray the United States as hypocritical and aggressive, to frame Israel as the primary enemy in a broader civilizational struggle, and to maintain the regime’s grip on power against any challenger.

The machinery is organized in a clear top-down structure. Khamenei or senior officials issue the core narrative. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its media divisions translate those directives into operational content, arrests, confessions, documentary videos, and alleged field evidence.

A sprawling network of semi-official Telegram, Twitter, Instagram, and other channels in multiple languages, operating under the banner of the “axis of resistance,” then amplifies the message globally.

When protests first broke out, the regime’s initial response was carefully calibrated. Pro-government channels largely avoided the subject, apparently hoping the demonstrations would simply fade. When that failed, Khamenei addressed the situation directly on January 3, acknowledging that economic frustration was legitimate, while drawing a sharp distinction between peaceful protesters and what he characterized as “mercenaries” seeking to destabilize the state.

By conceding that some grievances were valid, the regime insulated itself from accusations of complete indifference. By defining violent protesters as rioters rather than dissidents, it established the justification for lethal suppression. The message was aimed primarily at the Iranian public and at security forces who needed ideological cover for the crackdown to come.

By January 9, as the protests intensified and international attention grew, the regime shifted from vague references to “mercenaries” to explicit accusations against the United States and Israel. Khamenei’s speech that day established what would become the dominant narrative for the remainder of the crisis: the protests were not an organic expression of Iranian discontent but a coordinated foreign operation, a covert act of war by Washington and Tel Aviv against the Iranian people.

The IRGC followed with what it presented as supporting evidence: arrested agents, confessional videos, and alleged documentation of foreign weapons distribution. The narrative divided protesters into two categories: paid foreign operatives at the top, and manipulated, innocent young Iranians who had been deceived into serving enemy agendas.

This framework accomplished several things at once. It delegitimized the protests. It allowed the regime to position itself as the defender of ordinary Iranians against external predators. And it provided retroactive justification for the massacre of thousands.

Three sub-themes ran through this phase. First, American hypocrisy: the United States, which had struck Iranian territory during the 12-Day War of June 2025, was now presenting itself as a champion of the Iranian people’s freedom. The regime hammered this contradiction relentlessly, packaging it in visually striking Telegram posts showing Trump being compared directly to the suffering of Iranian civilians.

Second, economic motivation: U.S. interest in Iran, the regime argued, was always about oil and resources, not human rights, drawing explicit parallels to American actions in Venezuela days earlier. Third, domestic U.S. instability: pro-government channels amplified footage of anti-ICE protests in American cities, suggesting that Trump had no standing to lecture anyone about governance.

Once the protests had been bloodily suppressed, the regime pivoted to a victory narrative. Beginning around January 12, official and affiliated channels shifted their messaging to portray the crackdown as a historic triumph of the Iranian nation over foreign conspiracy. Pro-government rallies were staged and filmed. Senior officials made public appearances projecting confidence. The “great Iranian nation,” in the language of state media, had faced down its enemies and prevailed.

The victory narrative served the domestic audience primarily, providing psychological closure, reinforcing the regime’s claim to popular legitimacy, and shutting down any remaining space for organized resistance. For external audiences, it was designed to rebut Western media coverage of the massacre, presenting a stable government with broad public support instead.

In the final phase, following Khamenei’s January 17 speech, the regime moved to recontextualize the entire episode within its broader confrontation with the West. The protests were no longer a domestic disturbance that had been suppressed; they were a new front in a war that had never actually ended. The June 2025 twelve-day conflict with Israel, in this telling, was merely a tactical pause. The unrest of December and January was the enemy’s next offensive, and Iran had repelled it.

This reframing served a crucial mobilization function. Casting the protests as an act of war transformed what had been a crisis of legitimacy into a national security emergency requiring unified public support. It also served as a warning to the international community: any future Iranian retaliation for the protests, against U.S. or Israeli targets, would be framed as a continuation of legitimate self-defense.

One of the report’s most significant findings is that throughout this entire domestic crisis, Iran’s foreign influence operations against Israel and the West continued uninterrupted, and in some respects intensified.

PressTV’s Hebrew-language channel sustained a steady stream of content designed to portray Israel as economically declining, politically fragmented, and morally discredited. Press TV is a state-owned media organization directly funded and controlled by the Iranian government. It operates as the English-language division of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), which is the only legal broadcaster within Iran. The Hebrew-language service is the latest expansion of this state media apparatus targeted at Israel. The head of the IRIB was appointed directly by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, until his death on February 28, 2026. The content is unsurprisingly pro-regime and anti-U.S. and anti-Israel.

Hebrew-language articles highlighted coalition instability, internal protests, ultra-Orthodox confrontations with security forces, and demographic pressures, all framed to erode Israeli public confidence and sustain a sense of internal decay.

English-language channels targeted American audiences with footage of domestic unrest, framing U.S. political divisions as evidence of systemic collapse. Iranian-affiliated networks also sent threatening text messages directly to Israeli civilians’ phones, urging recipients to watch the sky at midnight in anticipation of strikes, a psychological operation designed to induce fear and undermine civilian morale without firing a single missile.

The regime’s ability to sustain coordinated foreign influence operations while simultaneously managing a catastrophic domestic uprising suggests that this system is deeply institutionalized and not easily disrupted.

For the United States, Israel, and allied governments now engaged in Operation Epic Fury, this has direct implications. Iran’s capacity to shape narratives about the current conflict, framing military strikes as atrocities, portraying Western governments as aggressors, mobilizing proxy audiences from Nigeria to Pakistan, is not a secondary concern. It is an active component of the battlefield.

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The US Central Command on Wednesday released footage of the US Military blowing up Iran’s Air Force.

“The Iranian regime is losing air capability day by day. U.S. forces aren’t just defending against Iranian threats, we are methodically dismantling them,” CENTCOM said.

WATCH:

The US Military this week conducted strikes on the Iranian navy in the Strait of Hormuz.

The footage showed an Iranian submarine minelayers and smaller vessels being blown up.

On Tuesday, President Trump boasted that the US Military destroyed 10 inactive mine-laying boats in the Strait of Hormuz.

“I am pleased to report that within the last few hours, we have hit, and completely destroyed, 10 inactive mine laying boats and/or ships, with more to follow!

The US military has destroyed at least 60 Iranian ships since Operation Epic Fury began late last month.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth last week said, “the Iranian Air Force is no more.”

A drone carrier vessel the size of a WWII aircraft carrier was destroyed by the US military last week.

Seven US service members have been killed in action in Operation Epic Fury.

Hegseth on Tuesday said the strikes against Iran will intensify.

“Today will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran,” Hegseth said during a press briefing on Tuesday at the Pentagon. “The most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes; intelligence more refined and better than ever. So, that’s on one hand. On the other hand, the last 24 hours have seen Iran fire the lowest number of missiles they’ve been capable of firing yet.”

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Credit: Daniel Torok – White House

President Donald Trump has ordered the release of 172 MILLION barrels of oil from the United States’ Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to combat record-high energy prices triggered by the ongoing war with Iran.

The release, one of the largest in American history, will begin next week and will take approximately 120 days to complete, according to Energy Secretary Christopher Wright.

This coordinated move comes after 32 member nations of the International Energy Agency (IEA) unanimously backed President Trump’s request for a massive 400 million barrel global release to stabilize markets and protect American drivers and families.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright released the following powerful statement, underscoring Trump’s ironclad commitment to American energy security:

“Earlier today, 32 member nations of the International Energy Agency unanimously agreed to President Trump’s request to lower energy prices with a coordinated release of 400 million barrels of oil and refined products from their respective reserves.

“As part of this effort, President Trump authorized the Department of Energy to release 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, beginning next week. This will take approximately 120 days to deliver based on planned discharge rates.

“President Trump promised to protect America’s energy security by managing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve responsibly and this action demonstrates his commitment to that promise. Unlike the previous administration, which left America’s oil reserves drained and damaged, the United States has arranged to more than replace these strategic reserves with approximately 200 million barrels within the next year—20% more barrels than will be drawn down—and at no cost to the taxpayer.

“For 47 years, Iran and its terrorist proxies have been intent on killing Americans. They have manipulated and threatened the energy security of America and its allies. Under President Trump, those days are coming to an end.

“Rest assured, America’s energy security is as strong as ever.”

Trump is already lined up replacements that will leave the SPR stronger than before, including massive new supplies from Venezuela (as TGP reported in January when Trump announced 30-50 million barrels heading our way).

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