AFP Fact Check 🔎

As Iran repeatedly strikes Israel with drones and missiles, this clip has circulated online with a false claim it shows the attacks' impact -- it was actually filmed at a deadly fire in Hong Kong in 2025 u.afp.com/2025HKFire

In the heat of the Middle East war, images purportedly showing cars on fire in Tel Aviv following an Iranian strike have been shared online. But the images are actually from anti-government protests held in Iran in January. Read more: u.afp.com/BurningCars

🇰🇪 As Nairobi reels from floods that have killed at least 70 people, AI-generated visuals are circulating online, falsely claiming to show the devastation. Read more: u.afp.com/Nairobi

Sri Lanka reintroduced a system designed to ration petrol as the Middle East war strained supplies, but these posts urging users to sign up for the fuel pass do not share an official website -- the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation confirmed the link is "fake" u.afp.com/SL2p

🗳️ Shifting political currents in Malaysia have led to speculation of early polls, but posts claiming the election will be held in October are false. Election authorities dismissed the claim, and PM Anwar Ibrahim said it is still too early to call polls u.afp.com/NoSnapPoll

The US Justice Department's release of documents from its investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has unleashed a torrent of misinformation, including claims that these images show Bill Clinton with Stephen Hawking. We found they are AI-generated u.afp.com/SLBM

Online posts are falsely claiming this video shows a massive blast at Israel's Haifa port following an Iranian strike. But it is AI-generated, and the port's operator said it was operating normally days after the rumours surfaced u.afp.com/SLBm

Fabricated Truth Social posts are a frequent source of disinformation about US President Donald Trump. This post about the "Hormuz Peace Board" is the latest example u.afp.com/SLer

This video was said to show a drone hitting a hotel housing US officers in Bahrain. But we found the footage corresponds to a Russian attack on a residential building in Kyiv in January u.afp.com/SLeY

AI fakes showing captured US soldiers and burning embassies are flooding X during the Middle East war. Even after the platform announced a crackdown, AFP found the content is still spreading, often from premium accounts with blue checkmarks u.afp.com/SLPk

✈️ Social media posts claiming the US and Israel bombed painted aircraft decoys in Iran are false. The images are AI fakes; not real strikes. Read more: u.afp.com/Decoy

AI-enhanced images of real events distort view of Mideast war u.afp.com/SLUW

As Iran retaliates against Gulf states after US-Israeli strikes, online posts claim to show Iranian missiles hitting the King Fahd Causeway linking Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. But the footage is old; it shows the 2022 Crimean bridge explosion. Read more: u.afp.com/Fahd

🚢 Iran claimed it struck the USS Abraham Lincoln after war erupted in the Middle East, a claim denied by the Pentagon and US Central Command. A clip purportedly showing the warship listing at sea is AI-generated. Read more: u.afp.com/Carrier

Fox News apologized for airing old footage of Donald Trump in its coverage of the return of the first six US soldiers killed in the war with Iran u.afp.com/Su9D

Iran's retaliation across the Middle East has included the targeting of strategic US sites in nearby Gulf states. However, claims that a video of a fire shows the US embassy destroyed by Iran in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, are false u.afp.com/SurZ

💣️ The Middle East war has proved to be fertile ground for generating AI images of destruction, like one video purporting to show missiles raining down on Tel Aviv. AFP Fact Check analysed the clip and found the footage is fabricated u.afp.com/SuKv

Images purporting to show American soldiers captured by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have spread across social media. However, the supposed pictures are AI-generated, as is evidenced by visual inconsistencies and the watermark for Google's Gemini u.afp.com/SuE8

Elon Musk's pro-Donald Trump political action committee shared a misleadingly edited video of Texas Senate candidate James Talarico that omits mention of the lock on the door from this quote u.afp.com/Su6T

Images of war in the Middle East are all over social media – many of them genuine, but some fabricated with AI. Learn to tell the difference with our open-access course on verifying AI-generated content 👉 u.afp.com/AIdetection