Iran has discovered Trump's vulnerability — and it's exploiting it relentlessly. According to Slate columnist Ian Prasad Philbrick, Tehran's leadership is weaponizing the president's own playbook to keep him perpetually off-balance as he searches for an exit from the war.

The strategy is simple, ruthless, and devastatingly effective: study Trump's ghost-written "Art of the Deal," master his negotiating tactics, and turn them back on him with surgical precision.

On day 23 of the war, Iran's Revolutionary Guard spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari delivered a pointed message directly to the camera, the Iranian flag over his shoulder.

"Trump, you are fired," Zolfaghari said, recycling the president's signature catchphrase from The Apprentice. "Thank you for your attention to this matter," he added, mocking Trump's preferred closing phrase.

This wasn't random mockery. According to historian Ali Ansari of the University of St Andrews, the Persian translation of Trump's 1987 book The Art of the Deal has developed a devoted following inside the Islamic Republic. Iran's leadership has studied it carefully.

The psychological warfare extends far beyond insults. Iran has borrowed Trump's entire online playbook: Iranian embassy X accounts post cartoons mocking his negotiating position, compare him to a hapless cartoon bulldog, and reference the Epstein files. State media airs AI-generated propaganda videos depicting Iranian victory — mirroring the White House's TikTok-style hype reels cobbled together from movies and video games.