Current Events

Does a viral video document U.S. Army soldiers deploying to Iran on June 22, 2025? No, that's not true: The post provides no evidence where those soldiers are going, nor when. No Army deployments have been documented by evidence-based news sites and neither the White House nor Congress have announced U.S. troops will be sent to Iran. The video was…

Does a video authentically show a lightning strike during a nuclear blast at an Iranian nuclear facility during a U.S. bombing attack on June 22, 2025? No, that's not true: While Lead Stories cannot confirm whether the video is real or AI-generated, the same video was shared online at least two days before the U.S. attack on three nuclear facilities…

Does a trending video authentically capture U.S. President Donald Trump missing the ball on a golf course in 2025, then grabbing it off the ground before anyone notices? No, that's not true: The footage was digitally altered and had the watermark of an Instagtram account with a bio that read "graphic satirist". The original, of Trump striking the ball at…

Did basketball team Indiana Fever sign up Gertrud Schlaghammer to protect star player Caitlin Clark? No, that's not true: The announcement about the "former Olympic Greco Roman wrestling silver medalist and ex-German special forces operative" was posted on a Facebook page dedicated to sports satire. There was no such announcement on the actual Indiana Fever X account, despite the fake…

Did a video shared widely in June 2025 show a real military base under Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, Israel? No, that's not true: The computer-generated animation began as a satirical reference to earlier Israeli claims about the hiding of missiles in civilian contexts. The hospital was hit by an Iranian missile strike on June 19. The claim appeared in…

Did an X post by podcaster Alec Lace imply the life of Democrats is "at stake" if they vote against Republicans or MAGA? No, that's taken out of context: It originally quoted one of his own posts speculating that the murder of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman was to be blamed on "her base" becoming "unhinged" after she voted a…

Did a video of a large crowd walking through the streets of a city show people fleeing Tel Aviv en masse in June 2025? No, that's not true: The clip was recorded in Russia. It showed an annual pilgrimage organized by the Russian Orthodox Church. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on June 19, 2025. It…

Did President Donald Trump threaten, in a TruthSocial post, to "drop Chris Christie" on Iran, in June 2025? No, that's not true: A widely-shared screenshot which appeared to show such a message was, in fact, fake. A search of the president's TruthSocial account yielded no record of his having written those words. The fake post appeared in a June 18,…

Did a viral video show passengers singing with a flight attendant waving an Israeli flag, in June 2025? No, that's not true: Posts on social media reused an old recording. The footage had been on the internet since October 2023. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on June 19, 2025. It read: Israel carries out a…

Did The International Olympic Committee plan a vote on moving the 2028 Games out of Los Angeles? No, that's not true: The meme spreading that news originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer and a warning that all the contents of the page are made up.The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into liking and…

Does a viral video show some kind of giant missile being transported, and is it related to the current conflict between Iran and Israel? No, that's not true: The video, captioned in one social media post as "the weapon that Israel fear the most" is several years old. It appears to show the transport of some heavy equipment to a…

Did a widely-shared video show a missile strike occurring during the June 2025 Iran-Israel conflict? No, that's not true: The footage predated that particular round of escalation. It had been online since 2024. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on June 17, 2025. It consisted of a clip of missiles striking an urban environment at…

Does a video really show missile-shaped baloons with the slogan "Iran is your problem too!" floating past Radio City Hall in New York? No, that's not true: The video was created by a digital advertising agency named Cracker TLV. They created several other videos using the exact same background scene but with other objects floating past. The video can be…

Did a widely-shared video show an Iranian woman dancing in the rain in June 2025, as a protest against that country's "Islamic regime"? No, that's not true: The clip showed Tamta Sabelashvili, a Georgian influencer and personal trainer who lives in France. She posted the video in 2023, meaning it had no connection to the Iran-Israel conflict that took place…

Does a viral image of a town's nighttime skyline under air attack show Iran's attacks on Tel Aviv during hostilities between the two countries? No, that's not true: Authentic coverage of the battle showed defensive weapons streaking upward and far fewer falling projectiles. Also, Tel Aviv's skyline is defined by more than 50 tall towers, while the image shows a…

Does an image of a burnt building really show the Mossad's headquarters hit by an Iranian strike in June 2025? No, that's not true: The giveaway that the picture didn't show a real-life scene was the misspelled name of the Israeli intelligence agency. That and other clues such as inconsistent shadows suggest that the picture has been modified or generated…

Does a trending video on social media authentically capture a fight inside a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv, Israel? No, that's not true: What looked like a crowd pushing each other was a scene from another country, Georgia. It depicted the atmosphere on the day of a verdict in a high-profile trial 13 years earlier. The claim appeared in a…

Did the Biden administration approve the permit in June 2024 for a "grand parade" for the Army's 250th birthday? No, that's not true: The parade permit application was submitted in March 2025, more than a month after President Biden left the White House and President Trump's administration began, according to a National Park Service spokesman. The permit application for a…

Does a viral video show an attack, fire or explosion in Tel Aviv, Israel? No, that's not true: The video actually shows a fire in a parking lot for motorcycles in Chongqing, China. Several social media posts falsely claimed the footage showed the result of an Iranian attack on Israel. An example of such a false attribution can be seen…

Does a viral video show the real-life aftermath of an Iranian attack hitting several skyscrapers in Tel Aviv, Israel? No, that's not true: The video digitally exaggerated the impact of a projectile hitting a specific area of that city. Lead Stories analysis found signs pointing to generative AI as the likely origin of the viral clip. The claim appeared in…