On Sunday evening, the Instagram account of the chief master sergeant of the Space Force began pumping out pro-Iran propaganda in an apparent security breach at the Pentagon.The social media account of Space Force Chief Master Sergeant John F. Bentivegna, which has just over 1,000 followers, typically posts updates for the branch’s enlisted rank-and-file. Visitors on Sunday evening were instead met with graphics calling for America’s defeat in the monthslong conflict.The Obama White House account was also targeted in what appears to be a systematic operation by regime-aligned hackers.
One post featured a voiceover from the Vietnamese radio personality “Hanoi Hannah,” which became infamous among American troops for English-language broadcasts encouraging them to defect. “They will give you a medal, GI, but only after you are dead,” the voiceover, which was set to music, declared. “Your government lies to you every day, poor soldier.”
“This is what the American soldier heard in the Vietnam War before America’s defeat,” the post’s accompanying Arabic text read. “This is your fate if you go near the Middle East.”
The Space Force account also posted a video montage of the Iranian official Ali Larijani. Larijani served as Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Tehran’s highest defense and national security body, before his March assassination in an Israeli airstrike. The post featured an Arabic description warning that Larijani “will set foot in America.”
