FACT FOCUS: Misrepresented images spread after US and Israel strike Iran
Mar 2, 2026, 2:33 PM | Updated: Mar 3, 2026, 2:32 pm
Workers install a billboard on an overpass containing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli military attacks, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
As the U.S. and Israel continued to strike Iran on Monday following a major attack over the weekend that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, misrepresented images related to the war 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.
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CLAIM: An 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 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.
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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 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.
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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.
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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.
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Associated Press writer Abril Mulato in Mexico City contributed to this report.
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Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.
