Following the US and Iran As US forces engaged in a firefight in the Strait of Hormuz in May 2026 against the backdrop of a fragile cease-fire, social media users shared a hoaxed clip purporting to show a damaged aircraft that had been part of a dangerous mission to rescue a US pilot stranded in Iran a month earlier. The video contains obvious visual inconsistencies, indicating that it partially reused decades-old images taken during the 2003 Iraq War and was generated using AI.
A Weibo post published on May 11, 2026, reads in part: “Everyone, check out the latest video! A damaged US Air Force A-10 Warthog was caught on camera. One of the engines was completely destroyed.”
The post shares a 16-second video of an incident. damaged aircrafta caption in Simplified Chinese claims that this is a US A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, also known as the “Warthog”. The first shot shows the aircraft on the runway, and the second shot shows it parked at an air force base with soldiers standing nearby.
“The aircraft sustained this damage during an Iranian attack during a U.S. pilot rescue mission. However, living up to the A-10’s reputation for rugged durability, it managed to return to base despite missing one engine.”
Screenshot of incorrect post with red X and AI label added by AFP
The post circulated for weeks (archived here and here) during the fragile Middle East ceasefire, following reports that the US and Iran exchanged gunfire in the Strait of Hormuz on May 7th.
In early April, the United States conducted a high-risk rescue operation to save two crew members from an F-15 fighter jet shot down by Iran on April 3. Both people were safely evacuated (archive link).
More than 20 military aircraft were dispatched to rescue the pilot, including an A-10 ground attack plane that had been hit by enemy fire. The pilot determined that the damage was too great to land safely and ejected over friendly territory.
The clip, which was shared in Chinese on X, Threads, Douyin, and Rednote, and in Arabic, English, and Spanish on multiple platforms with similar claims, was actually generated by AI.
A keyword search on Douyin found a high-resolution version of the same video published on May 10th. This user regularly posts AI-generated content related to the Middle East wars (archive link).
Analysis of the video using the Hive Moderation detection tool found that it was likely generated by AI, and Google’s SynthID detector found that the audio track was created with the tech giant’s AI tools (archived link).
Screenshot of Hive moderation results (L) and Google’s SynthID detector results
The 16-second clip contains several visual inconsistencies that indicate the video was fabricated, including blurred and distorted numbers on the runway, and a black decal on the plane’s tail disappears in a second shot.
Soldiers can be seen walking behind the aircraft, with one of them walking towards the camera with his back turned and his arms flapping erratically.
Screenshot of Douyin video with AFP highlighting visual discrepancies and adding AI labels
Subsequent reverse image search using clip keyframes Found An image (archive link) showing a similarly damaged aircraft published on Warthog News, a blog dedicated to Warthog aircraft.
Comparison of screenshots of AI video (L) and images taken in 2003 (with AI labels added by AFP)
The photo’s caption says it was taken after being hit by a surface-to-air missile in Iraq on April 8, 2003.
Matching details of the damaged A-10 aircraft can be seen in another similar image uploaded to Facebook by Air Zoo, Michigan’s air and space museum, and another published on the 110th Wing’s blog (archived here and here).
According to the 110th Squad’s blog, A-10 The aircraft flew in support of coalition ground forces during the early stages of the Iraq War.
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation related to Middle East wars.
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