Iran-aligned media and online networks joined Russia- and China-linked actors in pushing false or inflammatory narratives after US conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead earlier this month according to US officials and outside researchers.
Monitoring firm NewsGuard said on Wednesday that official outlets in China, Russia and Iran mentioned Kirk more than 6,000 times from September 10–17, frequently framing the shooting as a conspiracy and recycling unsubstantiated claims.
“The more confusion and mistrust they can inject right after a breaking news event, the harder it becomes for people to know what’s true,” McKenzie Sadeghi, NewsGuard’s editor for AI and foreign influence, said.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox said earlier this week that authorities were tracking “a tremendous amount of disinformation” and bot activity urging violence; he did not cite specific accounts.
Police have charged a 22-year-old suspect and said he acted alone. Authorities have not linked the killing to any foreign government.
Analysts and media reports say the narratives diverged: pro-Kremlin channels sought Ukraine links; Beijing-aligned accounts highlighted US polarization and gun violence; and Iran-linked outlets and influencers promoted anti-Israel conspiracy theories.
Pro-Iranian groups say Israel was behind Kirk’s death and that the suspect was set up to take the fall, according to New York Times.
“They’re picking up domestic actors and amplifying them,” said Joseph Bodnar of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
Cox urged Americans to ignore viral claims that appear designed to provoke fear.
The activity fits a longer pattern US officials have attributed to Tehran. Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center reported in August 2024 that Iranian operators stood up US-facing pseudo-news sites such as “Savannah Time” and “Nio Thinker,” sometimes using generative AI, and in June 2024 attempted to compromise accounts tied to US presidential campaigns.
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies said in September 2024 it had identified at least 19 pro-Iran sites targeting minority and veteran voters. Google Cloud’s Mandiant and Meta have separately flagged Iran-linked efforts aimed at US audiences.
Washington has sanctioned Iranian and Russian entities over alleged interference. In December 2024, the US Treasury blacklisted an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps subsidiary known as the Cognitive Design Production Center and Russia’s Center for Geopolitical Expertise, accusing both of seeding disinformation and, in Moscow’s case, using AI-generated deepfakes.
Russia, China and Iran have all denied targeting Americans with disinformation.
Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, had mixed public views on Iran over the years. In 2020 he warned against a broader war after the US killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani. In June 2025, after US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, he publicly backed the action while praising Iranian-Americans in earlier campus remarks widely shared online.
US officials say foreign exploitation of domestic crises predates the 2024 election cycle. A 2021 declassified assessment found Iran sought to undercut Donald Trump’s prospects in 2020 while eroding trust in US institutions; security agencies warned again in 2022 and 2024 that Tehran aims primarily to inflame social divisions.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate said posts calling for retaliatory violence after Kirk’s killing were viewed 43 million times on X, though the share from foreign sources is unclear.
