Son of British couple detained in Iran ‘let down’ by Starmer’s leadership on parent’s imprisonment amid war

The son of a British couple who have remained jailed in Iran for more than a year is appealing to President Donald Trump as the war in Iran complicates the situation.

“Conditions have intensified over the last couple of weeks, to say the least, as you might imagine with the complexity of war,” Joe Bennett told Fox News Saturday.

He said the notorious Evin Prison, where his parents are being held in Tehran, was already at capacity, and a recent surge of protesters has created severely crowded conditions.

“Food is scarce,” he added. “We’re worried about the replenishment of their stocks of food. I mean, it’s unsanitary conditions. It has been described as ‘hell on Earth’ by them.

FREED IRANIAN PRISONER SAYS ‘IN TRUMP, THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC HAS MET ITS MATCH’

“With the bombs that are dropping and the activity that’s happening there at the moment, the anxiety is heightened for us and for them as well.”

Craig and Lindsay Foreman were arrested in January 2025 by Iranian authorities while on a global motorcycling trip and were later sentenced to 10 years in prison on suspicion of spying.

Bennett spoke in Washington, D.C., Thursday at the McCain Institute’s US-UK Transatlantic Conference on Hostage-Taking and Arbitrary Detention, criticizing British leaders’ — namely Prime Minister Keir Starmer — “non-existent” advocacy for his parents, BBC News reported.

AMERICANS STRANDED IN DUBAI FACE REPEATED FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS AMID IRAN ESCALATION

“The clear message to the U.K. government and Starmer is to stop hiding behind this as a consular case,” Bennett told Fox News. “I think that was put out the window when they were sentenced to 10 years for espionage, accused of being spies for the Israeli Mossad and the U.K. government.

“What we haven’t seen is leadership qualities from Keir Starmer. We haven’t seen him advocate since their sentencing to, as you say, condemn this sham process and the treatment of U.K. nationals.” 

Starmer’s silence has left Bennett’s family feeling “let down,” he said. “We feel there’s an opportunity to do so and there still is.”

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Bennett stressed that his parents’ detention and sentencing “is hostage taking.”

“It affects not just the U.K., the U.S. as well and Western civilization,” Bennett added. 

“Innocent people are being targeted for leverage as political pawns.”

He also urged Trump to be “concise” with Iranian strikes and not to forget that Brits and Americans are in that prison.

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“Two things I’d like to say to Mr. Trump is, firstly, that safety is important,” Bennett told Fox News. “Missiles have hit Evin in June of last year but also were very close.

“So, I think the target — I just want him to be concise that, you know, so that Evin isn’t a part of that, and, secondly, is to not forget that they are there.”

He noted that, along with his parents, U.S. nationals are also imprisoned at Evin.

“And as a humanitarian plea, from a son for his mother’s release is what I’m asking for,” he said.

With dogs, dance and uncovered hair, Iranians defy ‘unholy alliance’ of socialists, radicals: ‘Hypocrites!’

Washington, D.C. – “You’re hypocrites!”

The shout cut across H Street NW last week as about 500 Iranian Americans supporting regime change in Iran marched toward a smaller group of pro-China socialists gathered two blocks away across from the White House, backing the radical clerics leading Iran.

“We are here for freedom of Iran,” Jay Gorbani, an Iranian American, explained as he held his Labradoodle puppy, Bella, while other members of a fledgling group, the National Solidarity Group for Iran, marched by. 

“We are against the religious mafia regime of Iran.”

The far-left activists they confronted had assembled under bright green and yellow signs pulled out again this weekend that said, “STOP WAR IN IRAN.” But the organizers aren’t simply “peace” activists, a Fox News Digital analysis of scores of pages of communications by protest organizers revealed. 

Fox News Digital has identified at least 75 organizations that have protested in support of the regime in Iran since the war began, including 50 organizations that are far-left, Marxist, socialist or communist; 22 that are Muslim organizations that support Islamism, or political theocracy; and the remaining three that are socialist-Islamist adjacent.

They parrot the pro-regime messages that the Chinese Communist Party has expressed in recent days as China sends military equipment to Iran, according to national security experts.

Last weekend, they coordinated demonstrations in 63 cities across 29 states and Washington, D.C., using identical signs, chants and protest infrastructure, which are available now in a digital toolkit, and they are replicating the protests this weekend and in the coming days. 

The main organizers are funded by an American-born tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, who is based in Shanghai, and lawmakers in the House Ways and Means Committee and House Oversight Committee have accused the network of promoting the interests of the People’s Republic of China. 

Singham didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment.

The Singham-funded network includes the People’s Forum Inc., the ANSWER Coalition, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, CodePink Women for Peace and the Palestinian Youth Movement, which has helped organize these protests. 

The Democratic Socialists of America, which helped elect Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City, also co-sponsored the protests. The organizations didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Global defiance

The confrontation in the nation’s capital reflects a broader struggle unfolding not only in Iran but also in the West.

From Phoenix to Dallas, Indianapolis, Toronto and Manchester in the U.K., members of the diaspora are increasingly challenging far-left activists they accuse of amplifying propaganda that favors the clerical rulers Islamic Republic.

This weekend, Gorbani and other Iranian Americans took to the streets again. They argue their advocacy for a secular democracy — and rejection of Islamism, or theocracy — offers the strongest response to rising acts of extremism by Muslim ideologues. 

In recent days, incidents of violence in Austin, Texas; New York; and Norfolk, Virginia, have been punctuated by shouts of “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great.”

‘Unholy alliance’

These tensions reflect a political dynamic with deep historical roots.

In 1965, Time magazine published an article, “Unholy Alliance,” bluntly describing “the Communists and fanatical Moslems” working together to oppose ​​Iranian leader Shah Reza Pahlavi’s efforts to “modernize and Westernize Iran” as a secular democracy.

Time quoted Pahlavi warning of “an unholy alliance between two extremist wings,” communist revolutionaries that he called “unpatriotic, destructive Reds,” and radical Muslims, many wearing black robes, turbans and headscarves.

“This is the very familiar, what we call, unholy alliance between the black and the red that is the communists and the very reactionary people or strata. We always see it because they are both against the progress and happiness of the country,” Pahlavi said years later.

It’s an alliance now called the “red-green alliance,” with green symbolizing the color of Islam.

PROTESTERS HOST QUDS DAY RALLY IN NYC: “SHAME, SHAME USA!”

‘Freedom for Iran’ v. the regime

Last weekend, an Iranian American woman with another nascent group, DCProtests4Iran, faced off against women in black robes from the Manassas Mosque in northern Virginia, where mosque leaders support the Iranian theocracy. Her hair loose in the wind, she flashed a “V” for victory and shouted, “Down with the Islamic regime!”

Staring down H Street NW at the socialists, Reza Rezavi, an engineer from Rockville, Maryland, and a volunteer with DCProtests4Iran, said his group supports Pahlavi’s son, Reza Pahlavi, as the leader of a new transitional government that would realize a “democratic Iran.”

“Freedom for Iran!” screamed another Iranian American woman, holding her Lhasa Apso dog, Cocoa, rescued in 2019 from Tehran, where the regime has ruled dog walking illegal in many cities.

At protests from London to Washington, D.C., Iranian diaspora activists say they are confronting far-left groups they accuse of stealing democracy from them dating back to 1979, when they defended radical clerics who came to power in 1979, overthrowing Pahlavi.

“It’s cultural warfare,” said Paul Mauro, an attorney, former New York Police Department counterterrorism inspector and a current Fox News contributor.

“Marxism is probably the most malevolent single idea ever devised,” Mauro said. “And our culture has now become infected with a tolerance for Marxism that is being translated into a very dangerous political energy that is working with Islamists to undermine America as we know it.”

‘Would you like a sign?’

LIke clockwork, members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the ANSWER Coalition and other socialist organizations had arrived at 2:28 p.m. last weekend at the corner of 16th and H Street NW. One woman sipped an iced coffee, while another pulled a red wagon piled with megaphones. A third pushed a grocery cart filled with a marching drum and fluorescent yellow signs that said, “STOP THE WAR ON IRAN!” 

A young woman dragged a dozen or so signs, asking, “Would you like a sign? Sign? Anyone like a sign?”

Tourists looked away as far-left activists, including CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and DC coordinator Olivia DiNucci arrived with a new protest banner. Ignoring the approaching crowd of Iranian Americans, Benjamin posed for a photo with Korean Americans who support China, Iran and North Korea’s communism. 

Soon, the group broke into familiar anti-American chants heard at protests for years, but this time they were muffled by the chants of the Iranian protesters, chanting, “USA! USA!”

Asked about Singham’s funding of the protest’s socialist sponsors, Benjamin said, “I’d rather not talk about it.”

Dancing in the streets in defiance

Minutes later, the Iranian American groups rounded the corner from L Street NW and stopped about 200 yards from the far-left activists on 16th Street NW. They blasted Iranian music and danced.

In defiance of strict interpretations of Islam, families walked pet dogs near Bella and Cocoa as women shouted with their hair in the wind, and men and women freely danced beside each other to Iranian pop music, acts mostly banned in Iran. The scene stood in defiance of the strict religious rules imposed by Iran’s clerics, who have barred pet dogs, forced women to cover their hair and suppressed music, dancing and dissent.

An Iranian American woman smiled and slowly raised her middle finger at the socialist activists, their chants of “Down, down with the USA,” drowned out by music blaring in Farsi.

Across the police line, field marshals from the Party for Socialism and Liberation corralled elementary-aged girls swaddled in black headscarves to the microphone, filming them close up as the children stumbled over their words, reading chants from a phone as activists egged them on.

When a girl got in the shot, the field marshal filming the canned chanting tried to shoo her away. 

“Those people are supporting terrorists,” said one Iranian American with the reform-era Iranian flag draped over his shoulder like a cape that featured a lion emblem. “We are against them.”

“We do not support the regime,” said Siamak Aran, an organizer with the National Solidarity Group for Iran, as Iranian Americans marched behind him, chanting, “USA! USA!”

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Some Iranian soccer players granted asylum by Australia chose to return home, local official says

Three of the six Iranian women’s soccer players who accepted asylum in Australia are returning to Iran, according to Tina Kordrostami, a councilor for the Australian City of Ryde. 

Kordrostami told Fox News Channel’s “Fox Report With Jon Scott” Saturday that the three players are returning, calling it an “upsetting update,” but she could not discuss exact reasons why. 

“They are heavily intimidated and being communicated to directly by the regime,” Kordrostami said. 

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When asked if the players are being threatened, Kordrostami said, “I don’t think that, I know that.

“I know families have even been detained. I know family members are missing. One thing I really would like for people in the West to understand is that Iranians within the country have in many ways given up on the West, and they are only relying on one another to survive this regime. 

“So, when we do offer them a way out, it’s not often that easy for them to understand that it is in fact a way out. They are more so used to relying on one another and this is survival for them.”

Kordrostami added that the women who return face potential severe consequences. 

“We are very worried about them. We know for a fact that they will not be safe. I’ve mentioned this before. When you do break a contract as an athlete in Iran, you can face the death penalty. So, I know these women are young. I know that they are making an incredibly difficult decision, and I have the utmost respect for them,” she said.

“Coercion is being used here, intimidation tactics. And we even had an individual amongst the girls within Sydney and Brisbane who was influencing them constantly in their ear, letting them know that whatever Australia is offering them, it will not work.

The team arrived in Australia before Israel and the U.S. launched a joint offensive against Iran Feb. 28. The strikes led to the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

IRANIAN WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM REFUSES TO SING NATIONAL ANTHEM IN SILENT PROTEST AT ASIAN CUP

Iranian players refused to sing their national anthem before an opening loss to South Korea March 2, which was viewed by some as an act of resistance described by an Iranian commentator as the “pinnacle of dishonor.”

Australian Minister of Home Affairs Tony Burke announced at a news conference Tuesday that another Iranian women’s soccer player and a team staffer had accepted asylum in Australia amid fear of punishment upon returning to Iran after five players accepted asylum on Sunday.

Burke added that almost all the Iranian players and many of the support staff were taken aside individually as they passed through Australian Customs at an airport before they boarded their flight back to Iran.

And they were each given the opportunity to accept an asylum offer without Iranian state officials present, but other players or staff accepted the offer to stay.

The asylum bids came amid increased pressure from President Donald Trump and Iranian groups in Australia.

“Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed. Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM. The U.S. will take them if you won’t,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump later wrote, “I just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women’s Soccer Team.

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“He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way. Some, however, feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return. In any event, the Prime Minister is doing a very good job having to do with this rather delicate situation. God bless Australia!”

Iran head coach Marziyeh Jafari was quoted as saying on Australia’s national news agency that the team wants “to come back to Iran as soon as we can.”

Bill Maher presses Gov Josh Shapiro on Iran war, asks if ‘you would still do nothing?’

Comedian Bill Maher pressed Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro Friday over his opposition to U.S. involvement in Iran, challenging the Democrat on what he would do if he were commander in chief and had learned Iran would soon have nuclear weapons.

“Our chief negotiator said they were talking to Iran up until the war started. He said their opening salvo at the negotiations, ‘We’re a couple of weeks away from having 11 bombs,’” Maher said during the latest installment of “Real Time.” 

“If you were the president, and you got that information, you would still do nothing?” 

Shapiro quickly rejected the notion.

TRUMP SUDDENLY SEEMS ANXIOUS TO END THE WAR AS AMERICAN CASUALTIES MOUNT AND IRAN FINDS WAYS TO HIT BACK

“No. What I would do and what the president of the United States failed to do was be clear with the American people about what the hell we were doing here,” he said.

“Was the plan to go after the nuclear weapons? The weapons, by the way, he said were destroyed … seven months ago. Was the plan to go and do regime change? In which case, who the hell is going to take over? I don’t think the son [Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei] is any better than the father. Was the plan to go in there later, but you got forced because Netanyahu forced your hand?

“I think if you don’t have clarity about why you’re going in, you have no way of knowing how the hell to get out.”

PENTAGON POLICY CHIEF GRILLED AS DEM CLAIMS TRUMP BROKE PROMISE ABOUT GOING TO WAR WITH IRAN

Maher also pushed back on the Pennsylvania Democrat’s suggestion that the rationale for the war remains unclear.

“We’ve lost 13 American soldiers in a war that the American people and, by the way, most of the global community, has no idea why the hell we went there in the first place,” Shapiro said.

“I think people have an idea,” Maher countered.

FETTERMAN CONDEMNS DEMOCRATS FOR REFUSING TO PUT ‘COUNTRY OVER PARTY’ ON IRAN STRIKES

“What was the reason we went in?” Shapiro asked.

“Everything you said — the nukes, regime change and just to reshuffle the deck in the Middle East. Nothing ever really was going to get better until that regime went away,” Maher replied, prompting chuckles from the audience.

“But we’ll see what happens.”

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Shapiro noted that he was morally opposed to the Iranian regime’s actions that placed Americans in harm’s way, stating that he never viewed the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a “good person” and that he is “not shedding a tear” for regime members who were killed.  

“[The ayatollah] chanted, for five decades, ‘Death to America.’ These are people who blew up and killed Americans. These are not good people,” he said. 

“What I am saying, though, is, if you are the commander in chief, you have a responsibility to the people you send into harm’s way, a responsibility to the American people to explain why it is you’re doing what you’re doing and how the hell you get out of it once the mission is accomplished.

“The president has yet to look the American people in the eye and explain that, and that is a failure of leadership.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Shapiro’s statements but did not immediately hear back. 

Transactional partners: How 200-year distrust shapes Russia’s response to the Iran conflict

In March 2026, as the smoke cleared over Tehran after the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran’s leadership, Russia’s response was strikingly restrained. Despite a 20-year strategic partnership treaty signed with Tehran just last year, Moscow limited its reaction to condemnation and calls for diplomacy. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Russia had received no request from Iran for military assistance.

 “There were no requests from Iran in this case,” Peskov told reporters March 5.

For analysts who study the relationship between Moscow and Tehran, the moment felt familiar. 

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“The relationship has always been transactional,” said Ksenia Svetlova, executive director of the Regional Organization for Peace, Economy and Security (ROPES) and an associate fellow at Chatham House. “Russia does what serves its own interests.”

While Iran and Russia have moved closer in recent years — particularly after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine — experts say the partnership has never resembled a true alliance. Instead, they say, it reflects a long history of cooperation shaped by convenience, rivalry and shifting geopolitical needs.

The shadow of Turkmenchay

The uneasy relationship between the two powers stretches back nearly two centuries. In 1828, the Treaty of Turkmenchay forced Persia to cede large parts of the Caucasus to the Russian Empire after a military defeat. The treaty remains one of the most painful symbols of foreign domination in Iranian political memory.

In the 20th century, Russia’s relationship with Iran shifted dramatically. Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Moscow maintained relatively stable ties with Iran under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. 

“It actually had good relations with the Shah who visited Moscow after World War II,” Svetlova said.

“But Communist Russia was very suspicious of Islamist Iran after the 1979 revolution,” said Svetlova. 

It was a mutual distrust. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini denounced both Cold War superpowers, calling the United States the “Great Satan” and the Soviet Union the “Lesser Satan.” 

Even during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, the Soviet Union maintained ties with Tehran while simultaneously supplying weapons to Iraq. 

“The Soviet Union was very suspicious of Islamist Iran,” Svetlova said. “Even after the revolution, the relationship could not really be considered an alliance.”

AS UKRAINE WAR DRAGS ON, TRUMP HITS PUTIN BY SQUEEZING RUSSIA’S PROXIES

The drone marriage

In recent years, however, geopolitical pressures pushed the two countries closer together. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 created new military cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. 

Though Russia and Iran have not shared a land border since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, they remain “neighbors” via the Caspian Sea. This “blue border” became a vital artery in 2022 when Iran supplied the Shahed-series drones used in Ukraine that Russia has used extensively in attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.

Vice Adm. Robert S. Harward, a retired Navy SEAL and former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, said the partnership has had direct consequences on the battlefield. 

“Sadly, the world is just now getting a taste of Iranian drones. But there’s one group that already knows them well, the Christians in Ukraine,” Harward said. 

“Close to 600 Ukrainian churches have been destroyed by Russian attacks, including from the Iranian Shahed drones.”

Carrie Filipetti, executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition and a former deputy assistant secretary of state, argued that Russia’s continued use of Iranian drones against Ukrainian targets underscores the depth of the military relationship while its calls for restraint in the current conflict highlight a fundamental contradiction. 

“If Russia were serious about peace, we would see a ceasefire with Ukraine months ago,” she said. “Yet, Putin continues to attack Ukrainian cities, churches and civilians with Iranian drones day after day.”

And yet Russia’s dependence on Iranian drones during the early stages of the Ukraine war has also diminished as Moscow built its own production capacity. A report cited by The Washington Post found that Russia has “transitioned from importing Iranian Shahed drones to mass-manufacturing them” under the name Geran-2.

Limits and intelligence

War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that Russia “should not be involved” in the escalating conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran amid reports Russia has provided information that could help Iran identify U.S. military assets in the Middle East. Moscow has not publicly confirmed the claims. 

“I believe Russia is providing Iran intelligence to more effectively target Americans, our allies and partners in the CENTCOM region,” said Lt. Gen. Richard Y. Newton III, a retired Air Force officer who served as assistant vice chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force. “It’s absolutely clear Russia is not our friend.

IRAN LAUNCHES SATELLITES ON RUSSIAN ROCKETS AS MOSCOW-TEHRAN TIES DEEPEN

“They are doing for the Iranians without spending money, spending troops or spending equipment,” Svetlova added. “They share knowledge. They supplied the Iranians with a target list, basically, through their satellites — American targets, but also air targets in the Gulf and Iraq.”

Harward argued that confronting this growing cooperation requires a broader strategy. 

“If we want to break the threat of the increasingly dangerous Russian-Iranian alliance, we need to fully decimate Iran’s capabilities to threaten our allies and the United States, and we need to continue to support Ukraine and get Europeans to do their part,” he said.

Filipetti remains skeptical of Moscow’s role as a mediator. 

“The idea that Russia would call on the U.S. and Israel to cease military operations against the regime in Iran and suggest that we should negotiate is absurd,” Filipetti said.

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Although Russia is falling short of helping Iran in a straightforward military way, experts say the cooperation in the world of intelligence has been profound. 

Ultimately, Newton argued that Russia’s actions should be viewed through the lens of President Vladimir Putin’s broader geopolitical goals. 

“Putin only does what serves Putin, and right now escalating the war in the Middle East and driving up oil prices only serves his interests so he can continue to fund his war machine against Ukraine,” he said.

US offers $10M reward for info on Iran’s new supreme leader, top IRGC officials

The State Department is offering a $10 million reward for information on Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and several senior officials linked to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Officials said the reward, part of the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program, is an effort to gather intelligence on the IRGC and its leadership, which Washington accuses of orchestrating attacks against Americans and supporting terrorism.

The reward targets Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with several key figures inside Iran’s ruling security apparatus.

The department said it is also seeking information about Ali Asghar Hejazi, deputy chief of staff for the Supreme Leader’s Office, and Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

ISRAEL HAMMERS IRANIAN INTERNAL SECURITY COMMAND CENTERS TO OPEN DOOR TO UPRISING

The program also lists several senior figures linked to Iran’s security and intelligence structure, including Yahya Rahim Safavi, a top military adviser to the supreme leader, Esmail Khatib, Iran’s minister of intelligence, and Eskandar Momeni, the country’s interior minister.

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), part of Iran’s official military, plays a central role in Iran’s use of terrorism as a key tool of Iranian statecraft,” the State Department said.

“In addition, the IRGC has created, supported, and directed other terrorist groups. The IRGC is responsible for numerous attacks targeting Americans and U.S. facilities, including those that have killed U.S. citizens,” the department added.

LETHAL ELITE ‘BLACK-CLAD’ KILL SQUAD GUARDS IRAN’S NEW SUPREME LEADER MOJTABA KHAMENEI

The agency said the IRGC has also expanded its influence far beyond military operations since its founding after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, becoming deeply embedded in the country’s political and economic system.

“Since its founding in 1979, the IRGC has gained a substantial role in executing Iran’s foreign policy,” the department said. “The group now wields control over vast segments of Iran’s economy and is influential in Iranian domestic politics.”

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The Rewards for Justice program allows the U.S. government to offer financial rewards for information that helps disrupt terrorist networks or identify individuals involved in attacks against Americans.

The State Department said individuals who provide credible information may be eligible for rewards of up to $10 million.

Iran using AI to control global narrative as regime can’t win on the battlefield, former security chief warns

The Iranian regime is using artificial intelligence to generate a false “global narrative” that it is winning the war with the U.S., Bridget Bean, the former acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), told Fox News Friday.

“They can’t win on the battlefield, so they’re going to try and win through AI and through a global narrative,” Bean said on “The Ingraham Angle.”

“And their old playbook was very discernible – funny faces or out-of-time lip sync – but they’ve gotten very good on some of their AI manipulation. And we’ve seen that.”

BRETT VELICOVICH: IRAN BUILT A DRONE TERROR MACHINE — AMERICA JUST HACKED IT

Bean said those scrolling quickly on their phones might not notice that something is off about the regime’s AI-generated content and urged people to be “careful about what’s happening.”

“Their goal is to weaken our will, our resolve and to really push a narrative that is not true,” she added.

PARENTS HONOR FALLEN ARMY CAPTAIN WITH ‘GIVING SOUL’ AFTER DEADLY IRANIAN STRIKE KILLS SIX

The New York Post reported Thursday that Iran published AI-altered images of the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, after reports he is too injured to make a public appearance.

Shayan Sardarizadeh, a senior journalist at BBC Verify, told the Post photos recently published by Iranian state media and on Khamenei’s X account had been edited using online AI tools.

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Bean said the regime is “taking real pictures, real videos and adding just a touch of AI” so that it “passes the gut test.”

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“What we’re seeing is not surprising. They have played this exact same playbook since June of 2025. During the 12-day war, they did this, and it really was the first time for a global conflict where we saw AI-generated disinformation outpace traditional propaganda.”