The Iranians have a significant cyber dimension. Informational mastery influences the way that

Published on April 23, 2026 at 10:44

Geopolitical and strategy analyst, and director of the CEOS Strategy and Consulting firm, Djilali Benchabane reminded on Thursday, April 23 in “La Matinale” that the mastery shown by the Iranians in their AI montages to ridicule the Americans is not surprising coming from a society “extremely well trained from an academic point of view.”

As pressure intensifies in the Strait of Hormuz and new negotiations desired by the Americans with Tehran seem uncertain, Iran ridicules its opponents in a video created by artificial intelligence showing Donald Trump at an impasse, alone and in distress at the discussion table. A new montage that reflects the communication strategy implemented by the regime to mock the United States, who would have wanted to reach an agreement as soon as possible. Iran’s ease in appropriating western codes and mastering new technologies to conduct an “informational war” has been “underestimated” in the conflict, explained this morning Djilali Benchabane, geopolitical and strategy analyst and director of the CEOS Strategy and Consulting firm, guest of “La Matinale” on April 23.

Djamel Mazi: These small boats, is it a bit like the image of these highly effective nuisance strategies of small drones like Shahed, for example?

Djilali Benchabane: Absolutely, we are already in this low-cost war of nuisance, but above all, we are no longer in a conflict centered around a clear military objective, which was originally the annihilation of the Iranian nuclear program, its ballistic capability. Today, the core of the war has shifted around the circulation and especially the control of these flows, which suffocate the global economy. Both, whether it is the naval blockade imposed by the United States or by Iran through its control of the Strait of Hormuz, aim to exert pressure to concede as little as possible during negotiations, and above all to demonstrate that, ultimately, the main weapon today is the economy and not so much military power.

It is also, we can say, a communication war; the United States and the Iranians also confront each other on social networks, with images created by artificial intelligence. We know that Donald Trump is extremely sensitive to communication, and he is also a very impatient man. With all this strategy, is it about playing on the nerves of Donald Trump, the US president?

Playing on his nerves, but also ultimately playing on codes. After, I will mention one thing that may have been underestimated in this conflict, it is that the Iranians, beyond the dimensions we have mentioned, namely drones, ballistic missiles, also have a strong cyber dimension. Why? Because we must not forget that Iranian society, excluding the ideological logic, is extremely well trained from an academic point of view, with a significant number of students studying abroad. This means that in terms of appropriating western codes, mastering new technologies and being able to also operate in another field of conflict, which is that of informational warfare, we have not fully realized that Iran is completely in phase and capable of also dealing blows and possibly creating disruptions in this field, where informational mastery weighs just as heavily. Because it influences public opinion and how the war is won or lost. And today, perhaps this is also one of the topics, since in some opinion polls, the war today seems to be tilting in favor of Iran rather than the United States.

On the other side of the strait, there is also the blockade of Iranian ports that continues from the Americans. Wasn’t that Tehran’s worst fear after all?

It is a fear, and at the same time, one wonders about the relevance of the measure since the Financial Times revealed that circulation continues and there are still ships managing to pass through this blockade. From memory, I believe there have been about ten that have successfully crossed since the maritime blockade was implemented. So yes, there is a restriction because there is a choke point that is being created and depriving Tehran of certain resources, but evidently, this pressure is not enough to completely block and make it totally impermeable [the strait]. One of the issues is: is the American device a bit lax in some places, or is there a willingness to let some ships pass, is a hypothesis, to avoid being completely in a situation of blockade and to show that there is room for negotiation? That can also be one of the questions.