'Fake' Trump Trapped in Tehran Square... Dancing to YMCA and Napping, Why?

The New York Times (NYT) features Iranian propaganda display
Wedding venue attack footage plays behind dancing Trump

A "fake" President Donald Trump has been trapped in a square in Tehran, Iran's capital.

Trump trapped in a prison on a billboard in downtown Tehran. Yonhap/AFP

On October 22 local time, The New York Times (NYT) featured an anti-American propaganda display in a Tehran square that uses a real person.

Inside a jail cell installed on a billboard, an actor wearing a mask and wig to impersonate President Trump is actually confined, shaking the bars, taking a nap on a bed, and dancing to "YMCA." The actor also walks around the cell, which is fitted with a bed, toilet, and sink, and waves to the crowd. But there is one thing the actor does not do: look at the screen behind him.

The screen shows footage of a U.S. attack last month that struck a wedding venue in Iran and caused casualties. As yellow crime-scene tape stretches across the screen, the words "Turning away from this scene is a crime" appear.

The propaganda display is believed to be intended to draw attention to an airstrike on a wedding venue in Kuheastak, southern Iran, last month. At least one U.S. military bomb reportedly struck a large wedding gathering, causing extensive damage.

Iran's street propaganda has become more provocative since the war broke out in February. This summer, a billboard in Enghelab Square in central Tehran featured an image of President Trump lying in a coffin covered in graffiti.

Even in Iran, where political messages have long been conveyed through billboards across Tehran, a "performative propaganda display" is unusual. Passersby who would normally walk past street propaganda stopped to watch the actor. Some filmed on their phones or burst out laughing. Others honked their horns.

The location of this billboard also drew attention: it was set up not in Enghelab Square, where political rallies and propaganda billboards are common, but in Tajrish Square, a major traffic hub in northern Tehran, where many affluent residents live and a market is nearby.

The NYT said that after the government’s forceful crackdown on nationwide anti-government protests in January, public sentiment toward the regime in Iran became more sharply divided, but anger toward the U.S. president, who launched a devastating war, is also widespread.

Omid Memarian, Iran senior analyst at the U.S.-based Middle East research institute DAWN, also said, "The Iranian regime has long struggled to spread its anti-American message beyond its hard-line base, but the war changed that dynamic," adding that "the propaganda apparatus has regained momentum." He continued, "The core of the regime's message is that Iran is not intimidated despite America's overwhelming military superiority and is not afraid to stand up to the United States."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.