USA · updated 2h ago · 2 min read
Trump Posts AI Images Threatening Iran, Including “Goodbye Khark” and “Bye-Bye Kharg”
Trump posted AI-generated images on Truth Social threatening Iran and highlighting economic pressure Imagery featured Kharg Island and memes like 'Bye-bye Kharg' and 'America's Lake'
How much the posts are framed as threats versus spectacle.
6 of 8 outlets skipped it: canada kept 'Ontario' while Trump pushed 'America Lake'.
13outlets compared
Same story, two versions
tap a side to read it in full
CNBC
“The 80-year-old commander in chief spent more than 10 hours on Sunday posting dozens of apparently AI-generated images on his social media platform.”Read the original ↗
Al-Jazirah Net
“From the burning Khark island to 'America Lake,' his posts blend satirical scenes with political and war messages.”
Translated from the original.
Read the original ↗CNBC emphasises financial and market-related claims, while Al-Jazirah Net focuses more on Iran threats and satirical propaganda details.
AI posts target Iran
U.S. President Donald Trump intensified his Truth Social posting with AI-generated images and clips that included threats to Iran and other messages promoting his decisions, with the volume peaking on Sunday, September 6, according to NBC News.
““Goodbye Khark.””
Al Jazeera Net described a post captioned “Goodbye Khark,” showing a fighter jet flying over a burning island, and said the reference mattered because about 90% of Iran’s oil exports pass through it before the war.
Bhaskar English reported that Trump made seven consecutive social media posts against Iran within about an hour on Sunday, including an AI-generated image related to Kharg Island that read “Bye-bye Kharg.”
Bhaskar English also said Trump posted a graphic claiming that around 18 million barrels of oil are now passing through the Strait of Hormuz every day, compared with around 20 million barrels per day earlier, as part of the same rapid series.
Officials and rivals react
In the same period of posts, Al Jazeera Net said Iran’s National Oil Company president Hamid Boord described Trump’s posts as “ridiculous,” and on Monday, August 31, he said the situation on Kharg was “calm and appropriate,” adding that oil operations had not stopped.
Al Jazeera Net also reported that when asked about the video the next day, J.D. Vance said he believed Trump was sending a message to Iran, and it quoted the administration’s framing of the warning as: “You must stop, or there will be consequences.”
CNBC reported that Trump spent more than 10 hours on Sunday posting dozens of apparently AI-generated images and unverified claims, including saying he has made “Hundreds of Billions of Dollars on Stocks” for the U.S.C
CNBC said the posts included an AI-generated image of Robert De Niro holding a shirt that read, "Trump is my president."C
War, markets, and naming
Beyond Iran-focused imagery, Trump’s Truth Social spree also included territorial and naming claims, with CNBC describing an AI image labeling Lake Ontario as “Lake America” after Trump signed an executive order directing the federal government to change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”C
“an AI image labels Lake Ontario, which currently has borders split between the U.S. and Canada, asLake America.”
Al-Jazirah Net said the lake name change was accompanied by satirical content, including a clip on Saturday, August 29 showing Trump kicking aside a sign reading “Lake Ontario” and replacing it with “Lake America,” and it added that Google and Apple adopted the new name for users inside the United States.A
Al-Jazirah Net tied the Khark and Ontario posts to a broader pattern, saying the account from which Trump posted “announces decisions in a war that has not ended yet.”
CNBC added that Trump’s AI posting spree also included images depicting countries, territories, and objects as U.S. possessions or territory, including a post that showed the Strait of Hormuz as a “new U.S. CTerritory,” and another where New Mexico becomes “New America.”