White House Promotes Iran War With Action Movie-Style Videos

Clips from popular films, video games, and sports are spliced with real combat footage to stir up support for the conflict.

Published on Mar. 10, 2026

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The White House has released a series of promotional videos for the war with Iran that blend real-life combat footage with clips from action movies, video games, and sports highlights. The videos feature explosive visuals and aggressive music, drawing explicit parallels between entertainment media and actual warfare. Critics have condemned the approach as a trivialization of the deadly conflict, with some actors whose work was used without permission calling for their depictions to be removed.

Why it matters

The White House's use of popular culture tropes to market the Iran war raises concerns about the 'gamification' of real-life conflict and the potential to encourage young people to join the military based on an unrealistic portrayal of military life. It also highlights the administration's efforts to leverage digital media and social platforms to shape public opinion on the war.

The details

The videos feature a wide range of cultural touchstones, including clips from films like 'Braveheart,' 'Top Gun,' and 'Iron Man,' as well as footage from video games such as 'Call of Duty,' 'Grand Theft Auto,' and 'Halo.' The videos also incorporate sports highlights, including NFL and college football tackles and MLB home runs. These cinematic elements are interspersed with real-life combat footage from the Iran war, set to ominous or aggressive music.

  • The White House has been releasing these promotional videos since the start of the Iran war in early 2026.

The players

Waymo

An American autonomous driving company and is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company.

Walker Reed Quinn

A 45-year-old San Francisco resident who has a history of vandalism and was out on bail for prior cases related to Waymo vehicles.

Ben Stiller

An actor whose work appeared in the White House videos without his permission.

Steve Downes

The voice actor who portrays Master Chief, the protagonist in the Halo video game series, and who called the White House videos 'disgusting and juvenile war porn.'

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich

The archbishop of Chicago who condemned the White House's approach, saying it dishonors the people who have died in the conflict.

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What they’re saying

“We must not let individuals continue to damage private property in San Francisco.”

— Robert Jenkins, San Francisco resident (San Francisco Chronicle)

“I have no interest in being part of your propaganda machine. War is not a movie.”

— Ben Stiller (X)

“The videos are disgusting and juvenile war porn.”

— Steve Downes (X)

“Our government is treating the suffering of the Iranian people as a backdrop for our own entertainment, as if it's just another piece of content to be swiped through while we're waiting in line at the grocery store. But, in the end, we lose our humanity when we are thrilled by the destructive power of our military.”

— Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago (X)

What’s next

The White House has not indicated whether it will remove the videos or accommodate the requests of the actors whose work was used without permission.

The takeaway

The White House's use of action movie-style videos to promote the Iran war raises concerns about the 'gamification' of real-life conflict and the potential to encourage young people to join the military based on an unrealistic portrayal of military life. The approach has been widely criticized for trivializing the suffering caused by the war.