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. Additionally, the name given to the supposed pilot appears to…
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…
Did a U.S. military commander tell troops that President Trump was "anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon"? Here's what we know so far: The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) said on its website that it has received hundreds of similar complaints. Asked to provide the original email or identifying information, the organization declined,…
Does a viral video show a real-life scene from Tel Aviv when the city was hit with Iranian missiles in March 2026? No, that's not true: The clip originated from an account that disclosed the video was generated by AI. Both online AI detectors and Lead Stories' manual analysis of the video strongly suggested that it was not real footage…
Did Variety report that Ian Miles Cheong was killed by an Iranian missile in Dubai? No, that's not true: Only one story on the Variety website mentions Cheong, and it was published five months before the Iranian strikes on the city in the United Arab Emirates. Cheong also posted a video of himself walking around the Dubai Mall on March…
Is this picture showing the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia on fire after a drone attack real? No, that's not true: An online detection tool rated the image 99.7% likely to be AI-generated and it contained a watermark from an AI image generator. Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Defense did say there was "limited fire and minor material damage to the…
Does a viral video show soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo leaving a resort in Dubai after an Iranian missile hit his car in March 2026? No, that's not true: The clip predates the most recent escalation in the Middle East. The original video was posted in January 2026, showing him leaving the Bvlgari resort two months before the conflict began in…
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