A huge image of US President Donald Trump with his mouth sewn shut has become one of Tehran’s most prominent wartime billboards, reflecting how Iran is using the capital’s walls to communicate both with its own population and with its foreign opponents.
The poster, installed at Valiasr Square on 2 May 2026, shows Trump’s mouth covered by a blue veil shaped like the Strait of Hormuz. Beside it, a Persian slogan is also translated into English: “At the breaking point.”
The billboard appeared as the war involving Iran, the United States and Israel was under way and negotiations over reopening the Strait of Hormuz had stalled. Iran seeks to control the strategically important maritime route, through which nearly 25% of the world’s oil is transported. In the image, the strait is presented as a weapon capable of silencing Washington.
Colourful anti-American and anti-Israeli murals have appeared across Tehran since the beginning of the conflict. One later billboard at Enghelab Square showed Trump in a coffin beneath Persian text reading “We Kill Trump”. Motorists passed the image on 15 July 2026, amid renewed hostilities between Iran and the US.
The confrontation resumed on 7 July after attacks on ships in the Gulf, which Iran attributed to Iran, putting at risk a memorandum of understanding reached in June through Qatari and Pakistani mediation. The agreement had been intended to end the war.
Images designed for a global audience
Few images from Iran reach audiences abroad. Journalists work under intense scrutiny and public internet access remained largely restricted, particularly during the first months of the war.
However, the country’s leaders allow and even encourage news agencies to photograph and distribute official posters. The image of Trump with his mouth sewn shut was widely shared by international media on social networks.
Other displays show Iranian drones shattering the Star of David or protesters chanting “Death to America”. A mural seen in Tehran on 3 June 2026 combined anti-US and anti-Israeli messages.
At Valiasr Square, another banner depicts the succession of the Islamic Republic’s religious leaders. Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, stands beside Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the war’s initial strikes on 28 February. Ali Khamenei is shown handing the Iranian flag to his successor and son, Mojtaba Khamenei.
Tehran’s buildings have become canvases for state propaganda. The images are intended not only for Iranian citizens, but also for the country’s enemies.
Sepideh Parsapajouh, an anthropologist and researcher at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), says political imagery has been part of Tehran’s landscape since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The city’s walls have served as a “space for political expression”.
Large murals commemorate Iran-Iraq War martyrs, promote revolutionary slogans and express opposition to the United States and Israel. “The city thus becomes a vast narrative space,” Parsapajouh said.
She traces the tradition back even further to “pardeh-khani”, an older form of storytelling in which religious or epic tales were narrated in front of a large painted canvas showing different scenes from the story.
From personal murals to state commissions
During the early years of the Iran-Iraq War, many murals were created by committed artists, art students and talented amateurs. Some projects were organised locally, while others were requested by families of dead soldiers.
“Sometimes, the families of martyrs made requests. Artists painted portraits of young men who had died on the walls of their homes, as gifts for their mothers. There was a deep personal and emotional dimension to it.”
That personal element gradually disappeared as the practice became institutionalised. “It became institutionalised very quickly. The murals turned into actual state-commissioned projects,” Parsapajouh said.
Today, the process is centralised. Government bodies commission the giant billboards that have replaced many hand-painted murals. Some designs are created by the House of Islamic Revolution Designers, a semi-governmental arts and media organisation, while the Islamic Development Organisation and the Tehran Municipality’s Beautification Bureau are among the institutions responsible for installing them.
The medium has changed too. Printed banners can now be put up or replaced within hours, allowing Iran’s regime to adjust its imagery in response to events.
Artificial intelligence has helped speed up the production of the increasingly theatrical designs and has also influenced their content. “Compositions today are far more sophisticated. They borrow the visual language of advertising, cinema, and blockbuster movie posters,” Parsapajouh said.
‘The Lord of the Rings’ influence
One billboard on a building near Fatemi Square in east-central Tehran attracted attention from Western media because of its resemblance to the fantasy saga “The Lord of the Rings”.
The Franco-German broadcaster Arte examined the image on its programme “Le Dessous des Images” (“Behind the Image”). It shows two enormous statues on either side of a narrow waterway representing the Strait of Hormuz. Their arms are extended as if to prevent aircraft carriers and warships from passing.
The figure on the left is Alireza Tangsiri, the former commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guard Navy, who was killed in an Israeli bombing on 26 March 2026. On the right is Rais Ali Delvari, an Iranian national hero known for organising local resistance against British forces in the Tangestan region in 1915.
The design closely echoes the Argonath, or “Gates of Kings”, from “The Lord of the Rings”. In Tolkien’s fictional world, two giant statues stand beside a narrow waterway marking the entrance to the Kingdom of Gondor and warning enemies away.
Such images “effectively immortalize political figures by casting them as heroes”, Parsapajouh said.
Martyrs as national symbols
Portraits of Ali Khamenei and members of the Revolutionary Guards killed in Israeli-American air strikes appear throughout Tehran. They are displayed alongside figures such as Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force, who was killed in a US strike in Iraq in 2020.
A billboard photographed in Tehran on 29 June 2026 showed Ali Khamenei kissing Qasem Soleimani.
“The hero may die, but he becomes immortal through this narrative. At Karbala, Imam Hussein died a martyr, yet his sacrifice became a memory that is constantly being renewed through his story. Contemporary murals follow this exact logic. The soldier, politician, or scientist who has been killed is not merely depicted as someone who has died; they become a hero, a martyr, and a character in a national and state story that is still being written,” Parsapajouh explained.
She described Tehran’s walls as a connected visual narrative rather than a series of unrelated pictures. “Tehran’s walls are not just a disconnected succession of images; together, they form a genuine visual text. Moving through the city, one passes from one story to another, from one martyr to the next, from one historical episode to another. The city constantly tells the story of its national history – a story told by those in power.”
The messaging is also adapted to location. Anti-imperialist murals are displayed near the former US embassy, while images in Palestine Square often address Israel directly, with some translated into Hebrew. Valiasr Square is used for the most monumental posters, while Revolution Square remains one of the regime’s main sites for communicating visually with citizens.
Yet the constant presence of the murals does not necessarily mean they have public support. Most Tehran residents have lived with the images for decades and many barely notice them. Others respond emotionally, while some view them critically.
“Most Tehran residents have lived with these images for decades. They are part of the urban landscape. Most passersby barely pay attention to them anymore. Others may have an emotional response, and some interpret them critically,” Parsapajouh said, stressing that public imagery does not automatically reflect public opinion.
She added that “the city remains a space for dialogue”. Although large walls are tightly controlled by institutions, Tehranis use graffiti, inscriptions, altered designs and erasure to challenge or reclaim official messages.
Those interventions are often brief and quickly removed, but they are also photographed and shared on social media, giving residents a way to retake the narrative of their city and their lives.
