White eagles and Persian cats: Chinese AI satire of US war on Iran goes viral

2026-03-23 - 13:42

An AI-generated animation by China’s state broadcaster satirising the US-Israel war on Iran has gone viral, triggering a wave of user-made sequels online. First posted by CCTV on Wednesday, the wuxia-style allegory centres on a war between the “White Eagle” and the “Persian Cat” – clearly representing the US and Iran. Though it does not explicitly mention the war, the animated short closely mirrors the conflict, which started on February 28, when the US and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes...