Oliver And Audience Applaud Iran's AI Propaganda Video

Alex Christy
March 17th, 2026 2:12 PM

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HBO’s John Oliver and his Last Week Tonight audience found a recent AI-generated propaganda video from Iran’s Revayat-e Fath Institute alleging President Trump started the Iran War to distract from Epstein files to be quite amusing. Oliver also continued the media trend of claiming that the administration has badly misjudged the war despite its clear one-sidedness.

After lamenting the White House’s various meme videos, Oliver introduced the Iranian clip by declaring, “What's surprising is Iran's been trolling in return. State-aligned media there even shared an AI Lego video that opened with a scene making it clear they think Trump started this war as a distraction.”

 

 

In the video, Lego Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Satan are looking at the Epstein files when an upset Trump mashes a big red button to Netanyahu’s delight. The fact that Netanyahu has made political hay out of his political opposition’s ties to Epstein is something neither Iran nor Oliver cared to spend any time on.

As it was, Oliver and the audience approved, although Oliver did point out one of the AI’s spelling errors, “Look, I think I get Iran's point there. This war is just a smoke screen to distract from Trump's friendship with notorious sex criminal Llrey Epstein.”

Oliver added, “That video also features the Strait of Hormuz being closed and businessmen crying about oil prices spiking, as well as a Lego depiction of the aftermath of the school bombing, which is surreal. It's odd for a human rights atrocity to be rendered in Lego, but I guess that's where we are in this conflict.”

“Human rights atrocity” makes it seem like the U.S. knew it was a school and targeted it anyway and not only is there zero evidence for that, but there is evidence that would seem to say it was outdated intelligence on an IRGC naval base that was next door.

Later on in his rant, Oliver played a clip of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth condemning the media for its coverage of the war and his remark that the sooner David Ellison buys CNN the better. Oliver had a bizarrely sexual analogy, “Wow. That is not good. ‘I can't wait until the billionaire sympathetic to this administration takes over the news’ is a little like your mom saying ‘When you were conceived, your dad came harder than ever before. He jizzed like a geyser.’ Even if you thought that was the case, your ability to make it through the day really depends on never hearing those words. But that wasn't all. Unhappy at the coverage this war has gotten, Hegseth decided to offer the press some helpful tips.”

 

 

In another clip, Hegseth had some suggestions for media headlines and chyrons. “Allow me to make a few suggestions. People look up at the TV and they see banners, they see headlines… ‘Mideast war intensifies,’ splashing on the screen the last couple of days, alongside visuals of civilians, or energy targets that Iran has hit, because that's what they do. What should the banner read instead? How about, ‘Iran increasingly desperate.’ Another example of a fake headline that I saw yesterday. ‘War widening.’ Here's a real headline for you for an actual patriotic press. How about, "Iran shrinking, going underground

Oliver reacted by retorting, “Okay, even if his version of events were true there, which it's not, that's a terrible headline. ‘Iran shrinking, going underground.’ What does that even mean? A headline's supposed to give you a clear idea of a story in a few words. That makes it seem like Iran is literally getting smaller and sinking, like some kind of Middle Eastern Atlantis.”

He also claimed “I get why Hegseth is trying to force-feed headlines to the press and why the White House is pumping out fun bowling animations—although I'll point out, in bowling, no matter how many times you knock them down, they do return to their original positions. Which feels pretty on the nose here. Look, clearly, no one behind this war wants to deal with how complicated it's turned out to be. Trump's saying it'll be over when I feel it in my bones, whatever the fuck that means.”

Hegseth is right. This war is being dominated by the U.S. and Israel, and the fact that Iran’s missile and drone launches haven’t been reduced to zero or that it hasn’t gone 100 percent perfectly does not debunk that claim because no war ever has gone 100 percent perfectly and none ever will. At the beginning, Trump said this could take 4-5 weeks, and we are in week three. For all of the media’s condemnations of the White House’s video game memes, they seem to think war is like a video game in the sense you can accomplish the mission in mere hours.

Here is a transcript for the March 16 show:

HBO Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

3/15/2026

11:10 PM ET

JOHN OLIVER: What's surprising is Iran's been trolling in return. State-aligned media there even shared an AI Lego video that opened with a scene making it clear they think Trump started this war as a distraction.

[Revayat-e Fath Institute video]

OLIVER: Look, I think I get Iran's point there. This war is just a smoke screen to distract from Trump's friendship with notorious sex criminal Llrey Epstein. And by the way, who is it with Epstein in the corner there? Is that Dick Van Dyke? Dick, no! Not you!

That video also features the Strait of Hormuz being closed and businessmen crying about oil prices spiking, as well as a Lego depiction of the aftermath of the school bombing, which is surreal. It's odd for a human rights atrocity to be rendered in Lego, but I guess that's where we are in this conflict—especially given the white house continues to churn out shitposts like this one.

…

OLIVER: Wow. That is not good. "I can't wait until the billionaire sympathetic to this administration takes over the news" is a little like your mom saying "When you were conceived, your dad came harder than ever before. He jizzed like a geyser."

Even if you thought that was the case, your ability to make it through the day really depends on never hearing those words. But that wasn't all. Unhappy at the coverage this war has gotten, Hegseth decided to offer the press some helpful tips.

PETE HEGSETH: Allow me to make a few suggestions. People look up at the TV and they see banners, they see headlines. [Jump Cut] "Mideast war intensifies," splashing on the screen the last couple of days, alongside visuals of civilians, or energy targets that Iran has hit, because that's what they do. What should the banner read instead? How about, "Iran increasingly desperate." [jump cut] Another example of a fake headline that I saw yesterday. "War widening." Here's a real headline for you for an actual patriotic press. How about, "Iran shrinking, going underground

OLIVER: Okay, even if his version of events were true there, which it's not, that's a terrible headline. "Iran shrinking, going underground." What does that even mean? A headline's supposed to give you a clear idea of a story in a few words. That makes it seem like Iran is literally getting smaller and sinking, like some kind of Middle Eastern Atlantis.

And look, I get why Hegseth is trying to force-feed headlines to the press and why the White House is pumping out fun bowling animations—although I'll point out, in bowling, no matter how many times you knock them down, they do return to their original positions. Which feels pretty on the nose here.

Look, clearly, no one behind this war wants to deal with how complicated it's turned out to be. Trump's saying it'll be over when I feel it in my bones, whatever the fuck that means. 

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