The Iranian women Trump ‘saved’ from being killed are real at once and manipulated by AI
Only the night before, he had posted on Truth Social about the women’s imminent murder, citing a screenshot that included a collage of eight brightly lit, soft-focus images. The images of these women were immediately accused of being AI-generated. “Trump urges Iranian leaders not to kill 8 AI-generated women. This is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen,” said another viral X post.
On top of that, immediately after Trump’s announcement, Mizan, an Iranian news agency, called the president a liar. “Last night, Donald Trump, speaking on completely fake news, called on Iran to commute the death sentences of eight women.” Mizan said that some women have been released and others are facing prison time but have not yet been sentenced, he also said that Tehran has not made any agreements – perhaps, the situation of women has not changed.
X’s account for the Iranian embassy in South Africa, perhaps the ultimate shitposter among accounts affiliated with the Iranian government, quickly gained traction by producing its own set of eight women:
The collage posted by Trump is, at least, AI-modified, Mahsa Alimardani, associate director of the Technology Threats & Opportunities program at WITNESS, said. The Verge. But the women themselves are real. The woman in the upper right corner of the collage is Bita Hemmati, whose photo appeared in several stories on right-leaning news channels last week. Hemmati is confirmed to have received the death sentence issued by Branch 26 of the Tehran Transitional Court “for the operation of the hostile government of the United States and hostile groups.”
Alimardani named six women (Bita Hemmati, Mahboubeh Shabani, Venus Hossein-Nejad, Golnaz Naraghi, Diana Taherabadi, Ghazal Ghalandri), and said the identity of the last two (called Panah Movahedi and Ensieh Nejati) had not been confirmed. The six women were confirmed to have participated in anti-government protests in January. Apart from Hemmati, no other women are reported to have received death sentences.
No wonder Trump has a reckless disregard for the truth; It is not surprising, either, for the Iranian regime to mix up information to fit its narrative, or to make it easier for real political prisoners to enter the United States.
An added twist is that the account mocking Trump for helping “8 AI-produced women” is the very one that landed South Korean president Lee Jae-myung in hot water when he quoted a allegedly misleading video posted by that account. Israeli officials accused the account of being “well-known for spreading inappropriate information.” The case of the quoted activist Lee Jae-myung is a case of mixed truth and misinformation, where the post contained very false facts, but the video – of soldiers of the Israel Defense Force pushing a fragile body from the roof of Gaza – was real, documenting an event that may involve Israeli forces in violation of international law.
The case of the eight Iranian protestors also has the same mix of fact and fiction into an ambiguous distortion that creates an endless debate about actual human rights violations. Their lives have been reduced to glowing pixels and quote-dunks, objects of propaganda and parody. While known liars argue online about who these women are and what will happen to them, they – certainly six of them, at least – remain real people who exist beyond the Iranian internet blackout.
