Tehran's Giant Anti-Trump Murals Created with ChatGPT

Over the past few months, anti-propaganda murals featuring themes that appear to mock U.S. President Donald Trump have been increasingly spotted on the streets of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

AFP reported on the 4th (local time) that it visited "Kanye Tarahan," one of the studios that produces such billboards, and shared the atmosphere of the office and explanations from the production team.

Mostafa Kafaee, 32, who runs the studio—whose name means "House of Designers"—said, "When news breaks, the production team moves into action. We brainstorm ideas, explain the work to graphic designers, and collaborate together."

The office was furnished with multiple desks where staff members were busy working on various tasks.

There was a whiteboard for brainstorming sessions, while photographs of martyrs and conceptual drafts for projects hung along the corridor walls.

Large billboards are utilized by the Iranian government as a medium to widely disseminate messages.

Among the paintings produced by Kanye Tarahan and displayed in high-traffic areas such as Vali-e Asr Square is one recently mocking Trump in connection with the Strait of Hormuz.

This artwork depicts the Strait of Hormuz on a massive scale, sewing shut and blocking Trump's mouth.

The billboard also features the phrase "At the breaking point."

Kafaee noted that when urgent production is required, a team of up to about eight members completes a poster in just a few days, adding that "speed has become the primary objective."

Explaining that most of the work is done using Photoshop, he added that his team possesses exceptional artificial intelligence (AI) proficiency and utilizes "various AI engines such as ChatGPT and Nanobanana" during the production process.

Another billboard produced by a different studio portrays Trump trapped inside a magic box while holding a Coca-Cola and a hamburger.

Accompanied by this imagery is the phrase, "It disappears in the blink of an eye!"

This artwork satirizes the incident in July of this year when Trump secretly transferred to another aircraft via a food delivery truck after wrapping up his schedule at the NATO summit in Türkiye.

Another mural parodies the famous album cover of Nirvana's "Nevermind."

This features Trump underwater trying to grab a one-dollar bill, alongside the phrase "Great victory! The Strait of Hormuz."

Other illustrations include an Iranian soldier stepping on a U.S. unmanned underwater vehicle, as well as a warrior standing before a turbulent sea and a burning U.S. warship accompanied by the phrase, "The army of Satan will drown in the Persian Gulf."

Large billboards glorifying figures such as former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who died in airstrikes on the first day of the war, and former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who died in 2024, have also been put up across the city.

Asked why Trump frequently appears on these billboards, Kafaee stated that it is because Trump is a "media figure," adding, "Whenever he acts in that arena, we respond in the same manner."

Comparing the media propaganda waged by Trump to a battlefield situation where "they are constantly firing at us," Kafaee explained, "We keep a close eye on our opponent and respond accordingly."

He stated that these billboards help many people who are not heavily interested in politics to understand "the general context of what is happening domestically."

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.