The ‘Red Octopus’ Extends Its Tentacles: China’s Cognitive Warfare Amid Operation Epic Fury

By Erik Durneika | 6:25 PM on March 07, 2026
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.
AP Photo/Alastair Grant

It was indeed a matter of when, not if, the Trump administration was going to initiate action against Iran. Promise made, promise kept. 

Operation Epic Fury, along with Israel’s Operation Roaring Lion, needed to happen. The Islamic Republic (IR) has long sponsored terrorism and was working to build nuclear weapons. Tehran has killed and wounded countless Americans, civilians, and military personnel over the decades.

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Opposed to the strikes, China is noticeably anxious. Its imports of discounted Iranian oil and petrochemical products and its strategic foothold in the region are at risk, as I previously pointed out. Operation Epic Fury sends a clear signal to Xi Jinping about the U.S. military’s capabilities should the Chinese military move on Taiwan.

Despite China’s lack of direct intervention on behalf of Tehran, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has launched an influence campaign targeting Operation Epic Fury and the Trump administration, similar to its efforts in January against Operation Absolute Resolve. Beijing’s multi-pronged cognitive warfare draws directly from its unrestricted warfare playbook, with the goal of dividing Americans, sowing chaos, and shifting public opinion.


The Singham Network and Affiliated Organizations

No CCP cognitive warfare story would be complete without the Singham Network, the focus of a recent House Ways and Means Committee hearing. These nonprofits — such as The People’s Forum, Code Pink, the ANSWER Coalition, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) — are funded by China-based, CCP-tied billionaire Neville Roy Singham. 

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and numerous other organizations in the Shut It Down for Palestine movement work closely with the Singham Network, with overlapping leadership. The CCP utilizes these organizations to advance an anti-American, anti-Jewish, anti-capitalist agenda. 

Singham Network operatives swung into action minutes before President Trump announced the operation in the Middle East. They’ve staged “NO WAR ON IRAN” and “HANDS OFF IRAN” protests in cities across the country and are planning more.

The People’s Forum is busy building what it calls a “new mass anti-war movement.” 

Code Pink is hard at work disrupting events and harassing elected officials. They are also circulating a petition urging members of Congress to stop Operation Epic Fury; see Code Pink’s rapid response toolkit. Code Pink, or any Singham Network organization for that matter, has failed to condemn the IR regime’s deliberate targeting of civilians in the region.

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BreakThrough News and the People’s Dispatch form part of the Singham Network’s de facto media wing. Not only are they promoting the network’s messages and amplifying the nationwide protests, but they are also pushing pro-IR propaganda, from eulogizing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to presenting footage of pro-government protests inside Iran in an attempt to convince individuals that the regime enjoys popular support. 

In reality, according to a 2024 survey, only 11 percent of Iranians supported the Ayatollah and the founding principles of the IR, likely much lower today. 

Singham Network outlets are attempting to frame protests around the world as a global campaign against “American imperialism” and “militarism.” These protests are comprised of communist activists and Islamists.

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Chinese State-Controlled Media

Chinese state-run media outlets play a critical role in this information operation. Chinese news organizations are amplifying the protests in the U.S. Xinhua, a news agency under China's State Council, put out two notable stories, republished by other state-controlled media outlets, that interviewed protest leaders, participants, and left-wing politicians. The goal here is to create the illusion of mass outrage in the U.S. toward Operation Epic Fury.

Chinese media outlets have featured CCP-aligned U.S. officials, like California Governor Gavin Newsom (D), and “intellectuals,” like Jeffrey Sachs, speaking out against the operation. Newsom’s China ties, including his connections to Chinese organized crime, should be cause for concern.

CCP media outlets have taken care to amplify leftist American influencers who oppose the strikes as well. Here’s Alexander Pearlman, a creator with 3.5 million and 1.2 million followers on TikTok and Instagram, respectively.

The CCP’s media machine is also a channel through which the IR regime has disseminated its anti-U.S., anti-Israel propaganda, from providing a platform for regime-affiliated “academics” and former IR officials to repeating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s false claim that it sank the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Shadati, a Xinhua “photojournalist” based in Tehran, stated the following in an opinion piece, contrary to the massive anti-government protests around Iran and footage showing Iranians inside the country celebrating Khamenei’s demise:

The true shock came before dawn on Sunday, when official channels confirmed that Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, had been killed in the attacks.

After years in Iran, I know well that opinions about the supreme leader have long varied among ordinary people. Yet whatever their differences, the killing of Khamenei, a man who had led the country for nearly four decades, struck something deeply personal.

For many Iranians, it was a blow to the heart -- a moment of profound shock that transcended politics.

On state television, an anchor broke down while announcing Khamenei's death, covering his face as his voice trembled.

"They have burned the heart of the Iranian people," Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said in an interview.

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Chinese state-run media outlets have cast the U.S. and Israel as destroyers of civilization while ignoring decades of brutality under IR rule and its own erasure of Uyghur culture. Beijing has increasingly used cartoons — wolf warrior art — as a low-cost, high-impact way of conveying CCP talking points.

There’s no shortage of antisemitism from Beijing’s mouthpieces, either. The cartoon below, which employs the “scheming Jew” trope, is one of many examples. Since October 7, 2023, Beijing has ramped up its antisemitic propaganda. By doing so, the CCP seeks to discredit the U.S. government as being “controlled by Israel” and drive a wedge between Israel and Washington, an alliance Beijing views as working to contain its influence. 


Beijing’s ‘Useful Idiots’

Aside from its bot accounts, the CCP has many "useful idiots" who promote its talking points across social media platforms. The first group is the wumaos, or internet commentators who are paid by the Chinese government to launder its propaganda. 

Known wumaos on X are railing against the U.S. and Israel amid Operation Epic Fury in numerous ways. Like the Chinese media, they’re spreading the IR’s talking points and calling for the “U.S. empire” — a beloved buzzword among leftists of all nationalities — to be toppled.

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Another tactic involves pushing the narrative that President Trump betrayed his promise to not start another war in the Middle East. President Trump has remained consistent over the years in his mission to prevent Iran from getting its hands on a nuclear weapon. The administration turned to military force only after exhausting every diplomatic option. Regime officials chose to reject the off-ramps offered to them.

Wumaos are leaning heavily on anti-Israel, antisemitic language. But they’ve taken it one step further: Tying their anti-American, anti-Jewish rhetoric to convicted predator Jeffrey Epstein. Antisemites have weaponized Epstein’s Jewish identity and heinous crimes against the Jewish population, and baselessly allege that he was a Mossad agent. 

And according to CCP propagandists, Israel tricked or dragged Washington into striking Iran. Rather, the joint strikes are a textbook case of two ironclad allies coordinating to neutralize a shared threat.

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American commentators and influencers with millions of followers — Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Jackson Hinkle (who has close ties with Russian and Chinese officials), Nick Fuentes, Megyn Kelly, Matt Walsh, and others — are parroting CCP propaganda. See the striking similarity between the posts shared above and the ones below. 

You know you’re on the wrong side when a prominent CCP propagandist applauds you. 

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To put the myth that Israel dragged the U.S. into war with the mullahs to rest, here’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio explaining why Operation Epic Fury had to happen:

Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.

Help us report the truth about the Trump administration’s decisive actions to keep Americans safe and bring peace to the world. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.

Erik Durneika

Erik's expertise is in international affairs, focusing on the Asia-Pacific and, more specifically, anything China-related. He has conducted research for the Uyghur Human Rights Project and served as a distinguished visiting researcher at National Taiwan University’s Research and Educational Center for China Studies and Cross-Taiwan Strait Relations. From time to time, his love for learning and natural curiosity lead him to explore topics beyond foreign affairs.


Read more by Erik Durneika

Tags:

CHINA COMMUNISM IRAN NATIONAL SECURITY AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI OPERATION EPIC FURY

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