FACT FOCUS: Misrepresented images as Iran war progresses

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FACT FOCUS: Misrepresented images as Iran war progresses

2026-03-04 06:31 Last Updated At：06:41

As the Iran war continued Tuesday, with nearly every Middle Eastern country sustaining damage from missile hits or shrapnel, misrepresented images related to the war continued to spread widely online.

They presented years-old footage as current, falsely claimed that U.S. military vehicles had been destroyed and erroneously claimed to show casualties of the war.

Here's a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: A video shows Iranian missiles falling from the sky in Israel.

THE FACTS: This is false. The video, which is a compilation of two separate clips, is from August 2024 and shows celebrations in Algeria during the 103rd anniversary of the football club Mouloudia Club d’Alger.

In the video spreading online, scores of glowing red objects fall from the sky while screams and cries can be heard in the background.

But neither clip is related to the recent Iranian attacks on Israel. The first was posted to Facebook on Aug. 9, 2024, with the caption, “Mouloudia fans’ celebration of 103 years.” It was flipped horizontally in the video spreading online. The second was posted to Instagram on Aug. 12, 2024, by a photographer in Algeria.

Neither clip includes the screams and cries heard in the video spreading online.

CLAIM: A video shows thousands of Israelis leaving Israel after Iranian attacks.

THE FACTS: This is false. It shows people arriving at Hellfest, a heavy metal festival in Clisson, France, in June 2025.

In the video, a crowd of people walks through a grassy field and along an adjacent dirt road. People are carrying large backpacks and wheeling carts with additional luggage.

The clip was originally posted to TikTok on June 19, 2025, the day that year’s festival began. A caption on the video reads in French, “Hellfest campsite opened yesterday.”

CLAIM: A video shows a nuclear power plant in Israel struck by Iranian ballistic missiles.

THE FACTS: This is false. It shows a 2017 fire at a Ukrainian munitions depot in the country’s Kharkiv region near the Russian border.

In the video, a large plume of smoke billows in the distance before an explosion sends flames shooting into the air. It was posted to YouTube on March 23, 2017, with a caption in Russian that describes the fire.

The explosions in the clip spreading online match the ones in the 2017 video. Identifiable landmarks, such as a large tower, can be seen in both.

CLAIM: Images show the USS Abraham Lincoln sinking or otherwise damaged after an Iranian ballistic missile strike.

THE FACTS: U.S. Central Command said in an X post that the warship, one of two aircraft carriers the U.S. military has deployed to the region, “was not hit” and that “the missiles didn’t even come close.” The post, which went up after Iranian leadership claimed the ship was struck in the attack, adds that it is continuing to launch aircraft.

Many images said to show the aftermath of a strike on the USS Abraham Lincoln are years-old. For example, an image of a ship sinking into the ocean with a helicopter hovering above has appeared online since at least 2021. A video of a ship engulfed in flames and billowing smoke appeared in a Facebook post from June 2025.

CLAIM: A video shows the downing of a U.S. fighter jet in Iran.

THE FACTS: This is false. It is from a military-themed video game.

The video spreading online shows a missile speeding toward a fighter jet, which performs dramatic evasive maneuvers. There is a loud bang at the end of the video and the aircraft heads toward 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 aircraft is identified as an F-4 Phantom II.

Three U.S. fighter jets, all of them F-15E Strike Eagles, were mistakenly downed in Kuwait — not Iran — by friendly Kuwaiti fire on Monday, according to the U.S. military. Iranian state television claimed that Iran had targeted one of the planes that crashed.

CLAIM: A video shows U.S. soldiers returning home in coffins from the Iran war.

THE FACTS: This is false. It shows the dignified transfer of U.S. Army servicemembers who died in Iraq in 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 U.S. Marine Corps veteran who fought in the Vietnam War.

There are a number of indications that the YouTube video matches the clip currently spreading online. For example, about one minute and 57 seconds into the video, a plane taxis in the background. Additionally, the front of a blue vehicle is visible throughout most of the video in the bottom right corner.

CLAIM: An image shows the body of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei 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 for identifying content that has been generated or altered with AI, in the image. This means it was created or edited, either entirely or in part, by Google’s AI models.

In the image, a body whose face is blurred is trapped beneath rubble while four men wearing hard hats and safety vests shine flashlights onto the area and work on clearing the debris. Small fires burn in the background.

Iranian state media confirmed early Sunday that Khamenei had been killed in Saturday’s attack by the U.S. and Israel. A photo of his body has not been publicly released.

Associated Press writer Abril Mulato in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

Indian activist Wangchuk ends 26-day hunger strike as 'Cockroach' protesters vow to press on

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian activist Sonam Wangchuk ended a 26-day hunger strike on Friday that helped galvanize a youth movement that's become one of India’s largest protests in recent years, but demonstrators vowed to continue until the education minister resigns.

Wangchuk’s fast became a rallying point for India’s “Cockroach” protests, which began more than a month ago demanding education reforms after alleged leaks in some of the country’s most competitive entrance exams. Since then, the movement has tapped into broader public anger over unemployment, government accountability and economic opportunity, drawing professionals, families and activists to demonstrations in New Delhi and cities across the country.

The demonstrations have become one of the most sustained waves of public dissent against Modi’s government in recent years, with thousands returning to the streets even after police used tear gas and batons this week to disperse marchers trying to reach Parliament.

In a post on X, Wangchuk said he ended his fast in the presence of two federal ministers after appeals from dozens of members of parliament and following “a long negotiation on various conditions and in view of possible violence in the country.” He did not elaborate on the talks.

Protest organizers said demonstrations would continue until Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned. They have called for demonstrations across the country on Friday in solidarity with students who were beaten by police during a march to Parliament on Monday that drew thousands of people.

“We won’t let Sonam sir’s sacrifice go in vain,” said Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of Cockroach Janta Party, a satirical group that has spearheaded the movement, named in reference to a remark by the country's supreme court chief justice that compared some unemployed young people to cockroaches.

The nationwide protests come a day after Modi publicly addressed the protests for the first time, announcing fast-track courts to prosecute cases involving examination paper leaks. In a separate video message, Modi also said his government would introduce a legislation in Parliament to crack down on exam paper leaks.

The announcements did little to calm the movement, as protesters said they failed to address their demands for government accountability, examination reforms and compensation for the families of students who died by suicide after exam paper leaks.

Fabeha Sayyed, 23, said Modi’s video message showed he was finally paying attention to the issue, but she questioned why he had not asked the education minister to resign.

“If he were so concerned about the protests, about the students and the families of students who committed suicide, then it is not hard for him to get a person to resign,” she said.