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.
People take shelter in an underground parking lot as air raid sirens warning of incoming Iranian missile strikes in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, March 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Duke ended the regular season sitting right where the 13th-ranked Blue Devils were expected to be in the Atlantic Coast Conference: atop the standings.
The journey there was hardly direct, down to those final steps heading into this week's ACC Tournament as the reigning champion and No. 1 seed.
Coming off a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight, the Blue Devils started 3-6 against a wicked nonconference schedule as the headliner in the league's bumpy overall start. They regrouped to win 17 straight and take control of the ACC race despite an injury-shortened rotation — only to lose two of their last three and ultimately back into the outright regular-season crown when No. 12 Louisville lost its finale against Notre Dame.
Last year's ACC title marked the first for Duke since 2013. The Blue Devils (21-8, 16-2) chase another against a field that includes the Cardinals and No. 16 North Carolina as play begins Wednesday in Duluth, Georgia.
“I don’t want an extra brownie from you guys for it,” coach Kara Lawson told reporters after Sunday's loss to the rival Tar Heels. ”But what I'm saying is: I'm proud of my team how — on the fly to lose three players to season-ending stuff, with seven players —we were able to navigate the 18-game schedule and win the league.
“We always tell the truth to them," Lawson added. “Hey, 'Here's where we broke down.' But hey, 'Here's what you've done well. And here's what we need you to carry over into the postseason.'”
Duke's loss at UNC gave the second-seeded Cardinals (25-6, 15-3) a chance to claim a share of the regular-season crown. And like Duke, Louisville has lost two of three.
First they rallied from 13 down before losing on a late 3-pointer at home to Virginia on Feb. 22. They squandered a 60-56 lead with 4:59 left and failed to hit another basket in Sunday's home loss to the Fighting Irish.
“You've got to be able to finish it off," coach Jeff Walz said.
The third-seeded Tar Heels (25-6, 14-4) have won 12 of 13 games since mid-January. The lone loss was at Duke.
The starting point was regrouping from a 23-point loss at Notre Dame on Jan. 11, a performance in which coach Courtney Banghart said her team “never even got off the plane."
“This is a team that we'd lose, we would be so obsessed on every statistical category: we've got to outrebound, we’ve got take more shots, we got to turn it over less, we gotta get more steals," Banghart said. "It's like, ‘No, you don’t, actually.' Just win as many statistical categories as you can and we’ll see how it all plays out."
UNC hit a program-record 16 3-pointers at Virginia then eight more against Duke to close the regular season, while point guard Elina Aarnisalo has posted new career highs in each (20 points against Virginia, 22 against Duke).
Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo is the tournament's top star as a two-time Associated Press first-team All-American. On Tuesday, she was named league player of the year for the second straight season and defensive player of the year for the third straight season.
Two years ago, she was the fearless freshman who led Notre Dame to the ACC Tournament title and claimed MVP honors. She enters the week as the nation's No. 3 scorer (25.2) and steals leader (5.59) for the fifth-seeded Irish.
The league has nine teams in Tuesday's ESPN Bracketology projected NCAA Tournament field, headlined by Duke and Louisville as regional 3-seeds. UNC is a 5-seed but has a chance to move into a top-16 overall seed and host opening-week March Madness games.
There are also two notable bubble situations to monitor in Clemson and Virginia, with both currently projected in by ESPN. The Cavaliers are chasing their first bid since 2018, which is their lone bid since 2010. The Tigers are chasing only their second bid since 2002, the other coming in 2019.
Wednesday's first round begins with 12th-seeded Miami facing 13th-seeded Stanford in the first of three games. Thursday's second round is headlined by the Irish, followed by 6-seed Virginia Tech and 7-seed Syracuse.
Duke, Louisville, UNC and fourth-seeded N.C. State open play in Friday's quarterfinals, with the semifinals Saturday and the title game Sunday.
This is the second time the ACC Tournament won't have an AP Top-10 team since 1985. The other came in 2000, when No. 12 Duke was the highest-ranked team. ... Boston College, Pittsburgh and SMU didn't qualify for the 15-team event. ... This is the 49th annual tournament as the nation's oldest Division I women's tournament, the first coming in 1978. ... This is the first year the tournament will be held outside the Carolinas since moving to a neutral-site format for 1983 after beginning at campus sites. Greensboro, North Carolina, has been its longtime home by hosting every year but once dating to 2000.
This story has been corrected to show the ACC is playing its first tournament outside the Carolinas since moving to a neutral-site format, not for all years.
AP freelance writer Steve Bittenbender in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report.
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FILE - North Carolina head coach Courtney Banghart gestures towards the court during the first half against West Virginia in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament in Chapel Hill, N.C., March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown, File)
FILE - Louisville head coach Jeff Walz, left, disagrees with a call during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Notre Dame, March 2, 2025, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/John Mersits, File)
FILE - UConn guard KK Arnold (2) and Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo (3) chase a loose ball in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Jan. 19, 2026, in Storrs, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
FILE - Duke head coach Kara Lawson reacts to a play during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against UCLA in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
