Misrepresented images spread after US and Israel strike Iran
By MÉLISSA GOLDIN
As the United States and Israel continued to strike Iran on Monday following a major weekend attack that claimed the life of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, distorted images linked to the war spread widely online.
They presented years-old images as current, falsely claimed that U.S. military vehicles had been destroyed, and falsely claimed to show war casualties.
Here’s a closer look at the facts.
CLAIM: Image shows Khamenei’s body under a pile of rubble.
THE FACTS: This is false. It was created with AI. Google’s Gemini app detected SynthID, a digital watermarking tool to identify AI-generated or edited content, in the image. This means that it was created or modified, entirely or in part, by Google’s AI models.
In the image, a body with a blurred face is trapped under rubble while four men wearing hard hats and safety vests illuminate the area with flashlights and work to clear the debris. Small fires burn in the background.
Iranian state media confirmed Sunday morning that Khamenei was killed in Saturday’s attack by the United States and Israel. No photos of his body have been made public.
CLAIM: Footage shows the USS Abraham Lincoln sinking or otherwise damaged after an Iranian ballistic missile strike.
THE FACTS: US Central Command said in an X post that the warship, one of two aircraft carriers the US military has deployed to the region, “was not hit” and “the missiles did not even come close.” The message, which was increased after Iranian leaders claimed the ship was hit in the attack, adds that they continue to launch planes.
Many images purporting to show the aftermath of a strike on the USS Abraham Lincoln are several years old. For example, an image of a ship sinking into the ocean with a helicopter flying overhead has appeared online since at least 2021. A video of a ship engulfed in flames and emitting smoke appeared in a June 2025 Facebook post.
CLAIM: Video shows shooting down of US fighter jet in Iran.
THE FACTS: This is false. This is a military-themed video game.
Video posted online shows a missile heading towards a fighter jet, which performs dramatic evasive maneuvers. There is a loud bang at the end of the video and the plane heads towards the ground.
But a YouTube channel dedicated to military video game simulations originally posted the clip in November 2025. A caption on the clip states that “all scenes are captured in-game for entertainment and learning purposes only.” The plane is identified as an F-4 Phantom II.
Three US fighter jets, all F-15E Strike Eagles, were mistakenly shot down in Kuwait – not Iran – by friendly Kuwaiti fire on Monday, according to the US military. Iranian state television said Iran had targeted one of the planes that crashed.
CLAIM: Video shows US soldiers returning home in coffins after war in Iran.
THE FACTS: This is false. It shows the dignified transfer of US Army personnel who died in Iraq during Operation New Dawn. The transfer took place on June 8, 2011 at Dover Air Force Base.
The original video was posted to YouTube by a photographer and United States Marine Corps veteran who fought in the Vietnam War.
There are a number of indications that the YouTube video matches the clip currently circulating online. For example, about one minute and 57 seconds into the video, a plane is taxiing in the background. Additionally, the front of a blue vehicle is visible throughout most of the video, in the lower right corner.
Associated Press writer Abril Mulato in Mexico City contributed to this report.
Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.
