Does a viral clip show the house fire that killed Iddo Netanyahu, brother of the Israeli prime minister? No, that's not true: That footage was uploaded online weeks before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, 2026. The clip reviewed in this fact check was recorded in New Jersey, not anywhere in the Middle East. As of publication,…
Did President Donald Trump post, "Mojtaba Khamenei are you ready to meet your father?" No, that's not true: The fake post did not come from the president's official Truth Social account. While Trump has called Mojtaba Khamenei -- Iran's new supreme leader and the son of the late longtime leader Ali Khamenei -- a "lightweight" and "unacceptable," he has not…
Did Dennis Rodman fly to Tehran to negotiate peace, and did Iran agree to a meeting? No, that's not true: An online AI image detection tool rated the image as 100% likely to be AI-generated, and a separate analysis detected a SynthID watermark indicating it was created or modified by Google's AI models. The information originated on a Facebook page…
Does a video show a real American B-2 bomber after being shot down and being paraded through the streets in Iran? No, that's not true: An online AI images detection tool flagged the video as 100% likely to be AI-generated. A separate analysis found several hallmarks of AI-generated or digitally simulated content, including an aircraft whose scale does not match…
Does a post about Mark Zuckerberg's supposed subpoena accurately reflect recent reporting on the Jeffrey Epstein front company, Butterfly Foundation, named in the Tehran files? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no news articles about the supposed subpoena or mentioning the statement "Mr. Zuckerberg will cooperate fully" the post said his lawyers released. The "Butterfly Foundation" is not named…
Does a video show a real fire on board a U.S. destroyer or aircraft carrier? No, that's not true: An online AI image detection tool rated the image as 100% likely to be AI-generated. A separate analysis found it has several hallmarks of AI-generated or digitally simulated content, such as unusually uniform smoke and fire, distorted aircraft shapes, unrealistic water-heat…
Does a photo show "Halach Boome," a real pilot from the Israeli Air Force who took out Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei? No, that's not true: An online detection tool rated the image as 100% likely to be AI-generated, and it contains a watermark from an AI image generator. The creator of the image later posted he "memed" the…
Does a real video show Iranian rockets coming in at a tremendous speed, exploding targets near the Tel Aviv marina? No, that's not true: This video is fake and bears many of the hallmarks of AI-generated imagery. The video is represented as showing Tel Aviv, Israel, but the marina does not look like the waterfront of that city. There is…
Does a video actually show the moment "when Iran destroyed the US Navy fleet in Bahrain"? No, that's not true: The viral clip, which purported to show that, originated from an account that disclosed it was AI-generated. It also contained glitches typical of AI-generated video. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on March 4, 2026.…
Does a photo show damage to the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that the American ship was damaged during Operation Epic Fury against Iran. The image actually shows repair crews in 1967 working to fix the damaged deck of the USS Forrestal after a deadly fire in the Gulf…
Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
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