Iran

Did the U.S. Army's Special Forces seize a CIA server farm in Frankfurt, Germany, resulting in deaths of U.S. soldiers? No, that's not true: A U.S. Army spokesperson told Lead Stories the claim is false. Lead Stories has previously debunked claims that American forces seized a computer server in Frankfurt that was owned by a company that provided voting machines…

Does medical research show COVID-19 is not transmitted in the air and that infection risk is unaffected by distance? No, neither claim is true: The claims ignore the accumulating recent evidence that airborne coronavirus is the major mode of infection. The claims ignore scientists' peer-reviewed conclusions -- which are based on what the full universe of study data show --…

Did "firefighter Sebastian Gates" die of carbon monoxide poisoning after rescuing a young girl from a fire? No, that's not true: This meme has been circulating since 2013 and contains a mixture of several different stories. The story is so muddied that no one hero could be honored by the retelling of this vague and mixed-up tale, and a search…

Were the two terms that Barack Obama spent in office "a crime spree" in which $4 trillion of $6 trillion sent to Muslim nations disappeared, $200 billion was sent to Iran, $500 billion was "stolen" from the Housing and Urban Development department, and $50 billion was set aside to build mosques around the globe? No, that's not true. The claims…

Did the Obama administration, including then-Vice President Joe Biden: "Outsource" the imprisonment of Al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden, to Iran; Arrange for bin Laden to be moved to Pakistan for a staged killing in May, 2011; Pay Iran $152 billion to keep its role a secret; Order a SEAL Team 6 helicopter shot down in August 2011 to…

Could November 2020 see the United States' first internal political war in its history? No, that's not true: If an internal war breaks out in the United States after the national elections in November, which some people are predicting, it would not be the first in history. The United States was divided in a four-year-long civil war starting in 1861…

Did TIME Magazine feature a cover of Barack Obama in an electric chair? No, that's not true: This is a fake cover that never actually appeared on any issue of the magazine. Since Donald Trump's election to office, the TIME Magazine archives do not feature this image on the cover. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) where…

Did Kamala Harris buy her California home with money inherited from an ancestor who owned slaves -- one of whom was apparently her own great-great-great-great-grandmother? No, that's not true: It is a bizarre claim used to argue that the Democratic vice presidential nominee is now living off the profits of slavery. Harris shares the same family history of an estimated…

Does a photo of a man kissing a child show Chuck Schumer or a pedophile? No, that's not true: The man in the photo is the child's father, he is not Chuck Schumer and he is not a pedophile. This photograph was circulated online for more than a year with various defamatory captions and alleged locations before someone decided to…

Did Nancy Pelosi "confirm" that China would prefer Joe Biden as president? No, that's not true: Pelosi was quoting Trump administration's National Counterintelligence and Security Center intelligence report that concluded that Russia favored Trump, while China favored Biden. A short video clip from Pelosi's August 9, 2020, appearance on CNN's State of the Union show was edited to omit the…