Artists Behind Trump-Epstein Statues Return to Washington DC With Iran War Video Game

President Donald Trump's war with Iran has been turned into an arcade game, and the joke is that he cannot win.

A guerrilla art collective known as Secret Handshake installed three playable arcade cabinets near the DC. War Memorial on the National Mall on Monday, unveiling a satirical video game called Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell.

The 16-bit-style game mocks Trump, his advisers, and the political theater surrounding the U.S. confrontation with Iran, turning oil, social media posts, and military bravado into the mechanics of a deliberately unwinnable war, the Washington Post reported.

The anonymous artists behind the project describe the game as a parody of Trump-era militarism, propaganda, and the way war can be packaged for entertainment. Players control a cartoon version of Trump, collect oil barrels and Truth Social content, and try to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the key global shipping lane at the center of the Iran crisis.

The timing is pointed. Trump said Monday that the Iran ceasefire was on "life support" after rejecting Tehran's latest proposal because it did not include a nuclear concession, according to The Associated Press. He also claimed Iran had gone back on his ceasefire plan that would have allowed the United States to help extract highly enriched uranium.

Secret Handshake's game turns that real-world crisis into a grotesque political cartoon. The game includes exaggerated versions of Trump allies and administration figures, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Elon Musk, and other right-wing figures. Wired reported that it also features absurd confrontations with figures including Pope Leo XIV and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, placing the Iran conflict inside a surreal universe of MAGA grievances, celebrity politics, and online spectacle.

The result is both a traditional video game and a playable protest.

The game is designed so players cannot achieve a real victory, a choice the artists use to argue that the war itself is unwinnable. The player can gather oil, move through political enemies, and chase patriotic imagery, but the structure keeps circling back to futility. The satire is not subtle, but subtlety was clearly never the assignment.

The cabinets were decorated with caricatures of Trump and his circle, along with references to Truth Social posts and the administration's war messaging. The Washington Post reported that more than 14,000 people had played the online version by Monday afternoon, giving the protest a reach far beyond the National Mall.

Secret Handshake has become known in Washington for staging provocative anti-Trump installations in high-visibility public spaces. The group previously drew attention for statues and displays mocking Trump's ties to Jeffrey Epstein and his remodeling projects, including a golden toilet installation. The new arcade project continues that approach, using public art not as a quiet monument but as a political ambush.

The game also appears to parody the administration's own use of hyper-stylized military messaging. The Daily Beast reported that the game mocks Trump's political universe with battles against symbolic enemies such as low-flow shower heads, DEI initiatives and the pope. In one gag, the game abruptly collapses when Trump tries to hold Melania Trump's hand.

The White House has not publicly commented on the installation.