The White House has posted videos combining real footage from the nascent war in Iran interspersed with footage from movies and video game clips, and phrases like "wasted" over images of explosions.
"JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY," the caption read of a video posted on Thursday night, along with an American flag and fire emoji.
The video include clips from superhero movies, as well as clips from anime films, "Top Gun" and "Braveheart" with electronic tunes underneath before clipping to video of strikes on Iran.
It ends with a voiceover saying, "flawless victory" -- audio from the video game "Moral Kombat."
In another post from the White House on Friday, a video shows a scene from the video game "Grand Theft Auto," with the caption and audio: "Ah [expletive], here we go again."
The clip then jumps to unclassified footage of a U.S. strike on what appears to be a box truck. Once the strike is carried out, the word "wasted" appears superimposed over the video. The term "wasted" is a reference to the when a player makes a kill on "Grand Theft Auto."
The caption lays out the Trump administration's reasonings for Operation Epic Fury: "Destroy Iran's missile arsenal," "Destroy their navy," "Ensure they NEVER get a nuclear weapon." The post adds: "Locked in."
The video seems to liken the real-life toll of war to a kill in a video game.
Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who was wounded in combat, criticized the White House for posting the videos.
"War is not a f------ video game. Six Americans are dead and thousands more are at needless risk because of your illegal, unjustified war. And you're calling this a flawless victory," Duckworth posted on X.
Asked for comment, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly, said: "Under the decisive leadership of President Trump, America's heroic warfighters are meeting or surpassing all of their goals under Operation Epic Fury."
"The legacy media wants us to apologize for highlighting the United States Military's incredible success, but the White House will continue showcasing the many examples of Iran's ballistic missiles, production facilities, and dreams of owning a nuclear weapon being destroyed in real time," she said.
The videos from the official White House account come just one day before President Donald Trump is set to attend the dignified transfer of American service members who were killed in Kuwait amid the war in Iran.
On Sunday, in a pre-recorded video that Trump posted on social media, the president said that "sadly, there will likely be more before it ends," referring to the casualties of American service members.
"That's the way it is -- likely be more, but we'll do everything possible. But that won't be the case. But America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against, basically, civilization," Trump said in the Sunday video.
President Donald Trump speaks during an event to honor the 2025 Major League Soccer champions Inter Miami in the East Room of the White House, March 5, 2026, in Washington.
Another video, posted by the White House on Wednesday, interspersed footage from war video games with real footage from the strikes in Iran. The minute-long video starts with an animated scene from the "Call of Duty" video game before switching to real footage of the strikes on Iran.
The video makes no indication which footage is real and which is from the "Call of Duty" game.
One short video shows strikes in quick succession with song lyrics saying "kaboom, kablow" in the background.
Another video shows unclassified footage of a strike before clipping to a scene from "SpongeBob SquarePants" in which the eponymous character asks, "do you want to see me do it again?" before showing a clip of another strike.
"Will not stop until the objectives are met. Unrelenting. Unapologetic," the post's caption read.
White House and Pentagon accounts have leaned into the "hype video" strategy on platforms like X and TikTok for many areas of the president's agenda, and the war in Iran is no different. Trump has touted his popularity on TikTok. In August, when discussing the effort to negotiate a deal for American ownership of the platform, Trump touted his use of TikTok in the campaign.
"So TikTok, as you know, I used TikTok in the campaign. Some young guy named TikTok Jack, and I won the young people by 36 points. No Republican ever wins young people. And I won it by a lot, and I'm a fan of TikTok -- kids like TikTok, young people love TikTok," Trump said in August.
This is part of the Trump administration's broader social media strategy. The White House and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have faced scrutiny for their use of social media around immigration enforcement operations.
In September 2025, DHS posted online videos that cut footage of immigration enforcement activities to the theme of a song from the animated show "Pokémon" with the caption "Gotta Catch 'Em All."
