'Americans say I ran instead of Iran': When some good old trolling bruises Trump's ego

Is it an ‘Airforce’ or a ‘Chairforce’ is the caption to an illustration of pilots sitting on ejection-chairs after US fighter planes were hit in Iran.

‘Losers and savages bomb universities and bridges, not winners’, is another jibe directed at the United States while a post reinforces the message by stating, “the USA is just like ISIS, hitting World Heritage sites. It is barbarism of the Stone Age, against civilization”.

As if all this was not enough, a terse caption reads ‘Everyone has an achievement’ for an illustration in which President Ronald Reagan is shown telling President Trump, “I destroyed the Soviet Union”; Trump in turn replies, “I destroyed the United States”.

Leading this savage punch are two Iranian embassies in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Other Iranian handles are not far behind, ironically on American social media platforms.

The Speaker of Iran’s Parliament G.B. Ghalibaf took to X to post, “After defeating Iran 37 times in a row, this brilliant no-strategy war they started has now been downgraded from “regime change” to “Hey! Can anyone find our pilots? Please?” Wow. What incredible progress. Absolute geniuses.”

Ghalibaf is one of the few Iranian leaders who has relentlessly mocked at the US President, even predicting what President Trump was likely to say on a Friday and thereafter on Monday mornings in order to manipulate oil prices and the US stock market. Other Iranian leaders, notably President Masoud Pezeshkian and foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi have been restrained but forthright in calling out the US and Trump.

The relentless meme storm has, however, been sustained on X by the Iranian embassy in South Africa and in Zimbabwe.

One of the most scathing memes have photographs of US generals sacked by Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth. After putting bold red crosses over the photographs, the embassy’s tongue-in-cheek message read, ‘The regime change happened successfully’.

With Iran being pounded by US and Israeli planes, and the country largely cut off from rest of the world, the narrative war has been taken up by diplomatic missions abroad.

Responding to President Trump’s threat of reducing Iran to the stone age, the embassy in SA posted, “The Mongols destroyed major Iranian cities during their invasion, wiping out much of the infrastructure and demolishing libraries and cultural centres. Trump & Netanyahu is doing the same, destroying universities, scientific and cultural institutions. Where is Genghis Khan and his usurping empire now? Trump, Netanyahu and their criminal gang will meet an even worse fate”.

The remarkable diplomatic initiative is not confined to satire. The handles are delivering crisp lessons in history too. In a post that explain US duplicity over the years, the handle asks, “Should Iran trust the U.S. regime?” and then proceeds to list past acts of betrayal by the US:

(1)       1953 coup in Iran

(2)       1957 Establishment of SAVAK by CIA & Mossad

(3)       1988 U.S. navy shot down a civilian Iranian aircraft

(4)       2018 US unilaterally withdrew from JCPOA agreement

(5)        2020 Assassinations during de-escalation

(6)       2025 & 2026 Betrayal to diplomacy when US attacked Iran while ostensibly negotiating with it.

Other messages remind US allies in Europe, complaining that closure of the strait of Hormuz is against international law, about what international law and international humanitarian laws are all about.

“Aren’t you ashamed of your selective use of international law? Killing children, medical staff, and civilians is a clear violation of international law. The USA and Israel regimes are doing so. Did you even know that?” questions a post.

Another states, “What does it say about US & Israeli regimes military aggression against sovereign states and assassinating their leaders? About the Minab school attack that killed 170 students? Or attacks on civilian infrastructure pharma factories, desalination plants? Funny how “international law” only seems to matter when it fits your narrative. You never hold aggressors accountable, only the victims.”