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    OPINION                                                           NOVEMBER 07, 2025        |  The Indian Eye 11

            Viva la Libertad, carajo! (meaning                                                                    had been shot down. These exagger-
            Long live freedom).” In this post, he                                                                 ations formed part of a coordinated
            also shared a video of the Evin Pris-                                                                 state effort to reinforce Iran’s deter-
            on Blast, which is popular among the                                                                  rent image and to portray parity in
            political prisoners of the Iranian re-                                                                the conflict, where the military bal-
            gime.                                                                                                 ance was tilted towards Israel.
                Another example of IO by Israel                                                                       In addition to media and narra-
            was the 18 June 2025 TV hack. Irani-                                                                  tive operations, Iran leveraged sev-
            an anchors were cut off mid-broad-                                                                    eral cyber tools against Israel. One
            cast as protest imagery and slogans                                                                   of the most revealing features of
            flooded the screen. Israel’s UN envoy                                                                 Iran’s cyber operations during the
            then shared the clip on social media,                                                                 war was its effort to gather real-time
            amplifying the message globally. This                                                                 information by hacking Israeli inter-
            operation mixed cyber intrusion with                                                                  net-connected closed-circuit televi-
            narrative warfare: by combining real                                                                  sion (CCTV) systems, to improve the
            footage of domestic unrest (woman,                                                                    precision of its missile strikes and for
            life, freedom, protests) with a call to                                                               damage assessments.
            action against the regime and aiming
            to delegitimise Iranian authorities in                                                                         CONCLUSION
            the eyes of their citizens.
                                                                                                                        he 12-day war between Isra-
                                                                                                                        el and Iran showed that IOs
            Throughout the operation, the      Iran’s IO operational objectives were focused primarily on projecting military strength, main-  Thave become a decisive part of
            IDF maintained a constant                 taining regime legitimacy, and countering Israeli narratives (File photo)   modern warfare. Both states treated
                                                                                                                  the information domain as a battle-
            online presence, uploading                                          Israeli  fighter  jets  were  shot  down,   ground, where legitimacy and per-
            animated and live videos,              IRAN’S INFORMATION           and the fate of the pilot is unknown.   ception were as crucial as kinetic out-
                                                       OPERATIONS
                                                                                                                  comes. Israel’s campaign focused on
            during  the  operation  and          ran’s IO operational objectives   The IDF immediately denied it and   delegitimising the Iranian regime and
                                                                                called it “Fake News”. Many social
            strikes on Iran on their official    were focused primarily on pro-  media  users  who  supported  Iran   reinforcing its own image as a stable
                                                                                                                  and responsible regional power. At
            YouTube  channels  and  X         Ijecting military strength, main-  used a photo of a Chilean navy avia-  the same time, Iran’s efforts were
                                              taining regime legitimacy, and coun-  tor named ‘Daniela Figueroa Scholz’
            account. IDF was constantly  tering Israeli narratives. Iran sought   from 2021[18] as a captured Israeli   aimed at sustaining cohesion, pro-
                                                                                                                  jecting strength, and countering Is-
            sharing the maps of the sirens    to shape both domestic and interna-  female pilot, which was entirely out   raeli narratives. Both countries used
                                              tional perceptions by exaggerating   of context. This episode illustrates
            operated  during  the  Iranian  battlefield  successes,  crafting  narra-  Iran’s reliance on rapid, sensational-  offensive and defensive IO, which
                                                                                                                  makes IO as crucial as other domains
            missile strike and sharing        tives of resistance, and mitigating the   ist messaging to seize the information   of warfare.
                                              impact of Israeli information warfare   space before verification could chal-
                                                                                                                      The  conflict  thus  highlights  a
            posts like ‘Attacking is not  aimed at destabilising the regime in-  lenge its narrative. In information   broader shift in how warfare will be
            equal to targeting’.              ternally.                         warfare, speed often outweighs accu-  conducted in the future. While IOs
                                                  Iran launched an extensive cam-  racy, a principle Iran used effectively.
                                              paign  to amplify claims of military   Numerous viral posts showed   have been used in warfare for cen-
                By doing this, they were trying   success against Israel, frequently cir-  the massive damage to big cities in   turies, the increasing application of
            to  create  a  narrative  that  Iran  was   culating AI-generated and doctored   Israel, like Tel Aviv and others. Fact   emerging technologies such as ar-
                                                                                                                  tificial  intelligence  and  deepfakes
            attacking civilians, while Israel had   videos depicting Israeli F-35 aircraft   checkers traced these to AI-gener-  adds a new layer of complexity to
            only attacked military infrastructure.   being shot down, missile strikes on   ated images or video game footage.   the way warfare is understood and
            In another post, the IDF stated that   key locations such as Tel Aviv, or   While such tactics risk undermining   strategies are formulated. For con-
            Iran is a global threat and the IDF   large-scale damage to Israeli facili-  credibility in the long term, they are   temporary strategists, the Israel–Iran
            is standing between them and the   ties. Many of these claims, including   effective  in  the  short  term  for  cre-  case demonstrates that success in
            world. Through these communica-   the downing of an Israeli F-35, were   ating confusion and eroding trust   future conflicts will depend not only
            tions, Israel pursued dual objectives   later exposed as recycled footage; the   in Israeli capabilities. These opera-  on technological superiority and bat-
            of legitimising its own military oper-  international spokesperson of the   tions serve the dual purpose of first   tlefield performance, but also on the
            ations by portraying them as precise   IDF later called it “fake news” on his   strengthening  domestic unity  and   ability to dominate the information
            and  pre-emptive  while  simultane-  X (formerly Twitter) post. However,   contributing to psychological warfare   environment.
            ously framing Iran as an aggressor,   by then, they had achieved their im-  by framing Israel as vulnerable.
            threatening not only Israel but also   mediate  objective of  demonstrating   These narratives were not lim-  Harsh Yadav is a Research Intern at
            regional stability.               strength and retaliation capability.   ited  to  the  claims  by  media  houses   the West Asia Centre, MP-IDSA
                Thus, Israel created a narrative   The intent was not to convince inter-  and individuals, but Iranian officials
            that its strikes were legitimate and   national military experts, but to re-  and the state media were also a part   Views expressed are of the author and
                                                                                                                   do not necessarily reflect the views of
            that it is the power that protects the   assure domestic audiences that Iran   of this information warfare. For in-  the Manohar Parrikar IDSA or of the
            entire region from Iran. The strate-  could withstand and respond effec-  stance, on 16 June 2025, IRNA an-  Government of India.
            gic intent is clear: Israel’s IO did not   tively to Israeli aggression. By doing   nounced that Iran had launched the
            merely  report  military  activity  but   so, Tehran sought to sustain morale   “largest and most intense missile   The full version of this article first
            also attempted to form a narrative   at home and uphold the broader nar-  attack” on Israel. Israel reported   appeared in the Comments section of
            by combining  moral authority  and   rative of resistance that legitimises   the firing of fewer than 100 Iranian   the website (www.idsa.in) of Mano-
            regional security, thereby trying to   the regime in times of crisis.  missiles, with most being intercept-  har Parrikar Institute for Defense
            influence public opinion and geopo-   Iran’s Islamic Republic News   ed. Similarly, the governor of Varmir   Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, on
            litical discourse.                Agency (IRNA) claimed multiple    (near Tehran) claimed an Israeli F-35      October 18, 2025

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