What do you do when when the world's most powerful country considers you an implacable enemy? What, indeed, do you do when you have few allies, enemies on every side and harsh sanctions constraining your economy?

Last night, Iran gave a glimpse of what it could do to respond to the killing of its commander Qasem Soleimani after it launched more than a dozen missile attacks on US military bases in Iraq, which it claims killed 80 people in the process.

Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, claimed the nation took "proportionate measures in self-defence" under rules set out by the UN Charter as it made its first retaliatory move against the US.

But in and among Iran's arsenal of weapons to fightback are tools that you don't have to pay much for. And few geopolitical assets are cheaper than online influence campaigns.

Although it was Russia which opened the West's eyes to the risk of election meddling and foreign influence via the exploitation of social media, numerous states have used the same playbook – including China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and, of course, Iran.