Iranian state video game glorifies regional conflicts

Iranian authorities have unveiled "True Promise," a new video game dramatizing its attacks on Israel and other military exploits in the region in a bid to boost domestic support for its controversial interventions in the Mideast.

A clip from the game was presented on a national morning show last week by a uniformed officer of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the military force spearheading Tehran's foreign operations.

The game appeared to deploy dated graphics and features five levels set in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Israel, culminating in 'Operation True Promise'—the name Iran uses for its April and October 2024 strikes on Israel.

Players can launch missiles at shipping as Iran-allied Houthi fighters in Yemen or shell Israel as Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

Developed after the April attack following directives from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei the game aims to glorify Iran's military exploits. A trial version is now available on an Iranian online platform.

The development of True Promise aligns with Iran's broader agenda of using state media to project power and influence, in what Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has called cultural warfare.

Khamenei has specifically mentioned video games as a means to promote Tehran's narratives of global events, according to Colonel Ehsan Rasti, Head of the Organization for the Development of Sacred Defense Culture in Virtual Space and New Technologies.

"In line with the Supreme Leader's directives after Operation True Promise, we tried to make this operation remain in history and its honors be passed on to adolescents. Accordingly, a game called True Promise was designed,” Rasti said.

“The Supreme Leader explicitly said that the Americans instill their objectives and perceptions in the audience through games, to the extent that a teenage player, after finishing a game, feels that their country has defeated Iran," he added.