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WHO MADE THEM — rated (this is the part most likely to be OVERCLAIMED). Keep the two producers distinct.
DOCUMENTED:
• The Iranian state DISTRIBUTED these — state-TV airing, IRGC-affiliated Tasnim reposts, embassy shares. (Distribution is documented; that is not the same as authorship of the viral clips.)
• Explosive Media’s creator ADMITTED to the BBC that ‘the regime is a customer’ — an on-record paid relationship, after previously claiming full independence. [JPost/BBC]
• Graphika forensically traced a viral Lego-Trump video to the Akhbar Enfejari Telegram account, reposted by Tasnim (IRGC) and RT (Russia) within ~1 hour. [Forbes/Graphika]
• The state-TV Minab clip is a genuine STATE-institution product (Revayat-e Fath watermark + broadcast). [JPost/MEMRI]
LIKELY (hedged open-source assessment, not proven):
• RRM Canada (Government of Canada) assesses Explosive Media is ‘likely linked to Saeed Jalili’ — the Supreme Leader’s political apparatus (SNSC), NOT the IRGC. The popular ‘IRGC Lego videos’ framing is imprecise on this point. Named collaborator: M. Taha Ansari Mohseri (tied to Jalili’s 2024 campaign).
• NAMED CREATOR: Mahdi Hemmat is identified in an April 13, 2026 Odysee interview as the Explosive Media cartoonist (title: ‘Low cost, high impact’). Attribution status: LIKELY — the interview is open-source but has not been independently verified against official records. [Odysee interview 2026-04-13]
ALLEGED / UNCLEAR:
• That this is ONE centrally-run influence operation. The evidence points to a HYBRID: some clearly state-made content, one commercially state-funded semi-independent studio (Explosive Media), plus organic copycats (PersiaBoi, Southern Punk, Pakistan’s Nukta). A symmetric-skepticism read: ‘Iran the state is behind the phenomenon’ is state-sponsored-and-amplified but partly outsourced and partly organic.
SOURCE-HYGIENE NOTE: Press TV/Tasnim (Iranian state) and MEMRI/Times of Israel (Israeli-aligned) are partisan here and are used only for facts they concede (who posted, the watermark), not their characterizations. The load-bearing sources are RRM Canada, Graphika, the BBC, ISD, and Cyabra.