As Israel faces Iranian attacks, a parallel information battle is unfolding on Telegram channels operating from Armenia, where posts this week have circulated false claims of sweeping Iranian “successes” against Israel and the United States.
A review of posts across several of the channels shows a steady stream of unverified and, in some cases, false reports. Among them are claims of a “direct hit” on a Glilot base linked to the Mossad; posts alleging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials were “eliminated”; purported strikes on the US Incirlik base in Turkey; supposed heavy Israeli casualties; a US warship allegedly hit by an Iranian missile; and the “complete destruction” of a US base in Kuwait.
The storyline is consistent from one post to the next: Iran is winning, Israel is losing.
In some cases, the disinformation is accompanied by explicit antisemitic language. One account, “Armenian Radical,” whose symbol includes imagery associated with Nazi Germany, has posted slurs against Jews, including use of the derogatory term “zhids,” alongside praise for Iran’s air defenses.
The same channels also echo claims circulating online that attempt to tie Israel and world Jewry to what is described as the Epstein Files, referencing the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell affair. In one clip circulated across multiple Armenian-based channels, an Iranian official is quoted on state television as saying Iran is fighting people who “either rape children or blow them up.”
Unlike earlier waves of wartime messaging, prominent official Iranian Telegram outlets, including those associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, have been less visible in recent days. Much of the material instead appears to be repackaged locally: administrators reuse Iranian source videos and add their own captions, often enthusiastic and sometimes inciting.
The activity also intersects with Armenia’s internal politics. Several of the channels pushing the claims are openly hostile to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. They criticize moves toward reconciliation and a prospective peace arrangement with Azerbaijan, and attack the US-backed TRIPP framework, a connectivity and trade initiative promoted as a way to reduce Armenia’s dependence on Russia and Iran.
Anti-West, anti-Israel rhetoric
Similar framing appears on Livenews.am, where a local commentator recently claimed a “great war” between “terror states Israel and the United States” against Iran “has already begun,” language consistent with broader anti-West and anti-Israel messaging seen across parts of the same online network.
Israeli-Russian writer and travel blogger Alexander Lapshin has also written recently about what he described as a rise in antisemitic discourse in Armenia. Quoting an Armenian follower, he highlighted what the follower called a contradiction: people sharing pro-Iran content online are often the same ones dreaming of moving to California, including Glendale, while expressing solidarity with Iran’s ruling system.
The follower added that under that system, women can be beaten or killed for not wearing a hijab. In the same post, the follower cited figures circulated by anti-regime channels claiming more than 30,000 people were killed during a crackdown on protests, describing it as another example of the gap between the online posture and the reality of the regime being praised.
Armenia is not a single voice, and the channels do not speak for the country as a whole. But the reach of Telegram accounts mixing disinformation with antisemitic rhetoric is a reminder of how quickly wartime narratives can spread far beyond the region.