Wikileaks alleges that since the early 2010s, Jewish screenwriters have promoted the idea of an Iranian nuclear threat through movies and television.
Wikileaks has asserted that Hollywood screenwriters, identifying as Jewish, have been embedding pro-war narratives concerning Iran into mainstream entertainment for over a decade.
Earlier this month, Israel conducted airstrikes on Iran, alleging that Tehran was nearing the creation of a nuclear weapon. The US also directly engaged in the conflict over the weekend by bombing Iranian nuclear facilities.
In a Sunday post on X, Wikileaks stated that Hollywood writers “who say they are Jewish” have been “planting the mental seeds for war with Iran for years,” pointing to productions like Top Gun: Maverick, Homeland, 24, and The Fifth Estate.
The group shared a video of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s 2013 speech at the Oxford Union. In the video, he discussed The Fifth Estate – a biographical drama about Wikileaks – noting its opening side plot about a fictitious Iranian nuclear bomb project.
Assange recounted that the opening scene portrayed Iranian scientists in Tehran assembling a bomb, with a character claiming the device could be ready in six months.
“How is it that such a lie got into a script about Wikileaks?” Assange questioned, highlighting that 16 US intelligence agencies had already concluded that Tehran did not have a nuclear weapons program at the time.
“It is an attack against Iran,” Assange stated, arguing that the scene “fans the flames to start a war with Iran” and benefited those “people in the system that want the war.”
Prior to Israel’s recent strikes, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and US intelligence agencies had both stated that there was no evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program.
Despite this, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continually insisted that Tehran was close to developing a bomb – a claim he has made for decades. He famously used a cartoon bomb illustration at the UN General Assembly in 2012 to warn that Iran was “months away” from a nuclear weapon, and made similar statements throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
Israel’s attack has been met with international condemnation, including from Russia, who called the strikes illegal. Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the operation as “an unprovoked aggression.”
US involvement in Israel’s campaign has also been criticized, with Moscow drawing parallels to the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq War, which was based on false claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
US President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran has also faced opposition within the White House. According to Reuters, Vice President J.D. Vance – an Iraq War veteran – opposed joining the Israeli offensive, warning in internal discussions that Israel was pulling the US into another war.
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