The newest entry in Iran’s AI-generated Lego-style propaganda series has arrived, and this one goes straight for Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The Little Marco Lego video pulls a nickname out of the political archive that anyone who lived through the 2016 Republican primaries will remember instantly.
Donald Trump called Marco Rubio “Little Marco” on the debate stage a decade ago, and Iranian content creators have now repurposed it as a weapon against the same man who currently runs American foreign policy. The irony is the entire point.
The Videos Are a Hit
The videos go viral. Not because Iran is winning the propaganda war, but because we believe [hope] Americans have the ability to enjoy the Little Marco Lego video without turning against the U.S. to start rooting for Iran to get a nuke.
Although we might lay on the sarcasm a bit too thick at times and say things like: “I wish Iran DID have a nuclear weapon, just so I don’t have to hear Trump saying some variation of: “Iran. cannot. be allowed. to have a nuclear weapon” in response to every question he’s asked about the war.
This is the formula that’s working. Slick AI animation, plastic Lego figures standing in for real officials, satirical scripts, cinematic shots, and music engineered to loop in your head — all of it built to travel on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and X.
The videos have racked up millions of views worldwide and crossed language barriers that traditional state media never could. They use America’s own political memes, internal feuds, and pop culture vocabulary to make a foreign government’s messaging feel like it belongs on your For You page.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: this is war propaganda. The Iranian regime that produces these videos jails its own journalists, executes protesters, and has a long record of brutality against women, religious minorities, and dissidents.
Nothing about the people behind these reels is sympathetic. But pretending the videos don’t exist — or that millions of Americans aren’t watching them — would be its own kind of failure. The information war around Operation Epic Fury is being fought in 30-second clips, and right now Tehran’s animators are landing punches that Washington’s communications shops can’t seem to counter.
Watch it with that frame in mind. Don’t take the message at face value, but don’t underestimate the medium either. The reason the “Little Marco” Lego video works isn’t that Iranian propagandists are geniuses (creative, talented, intelligent, sure)— it’s that they’re using a nickname an American president handed them ten years ago. The call is still coming from inside the house.
Little Marco Lego Video
Good luck getting 🎶 “Little Marco-Marco” 🎶 out of your head for the next 12-24 hours.
