An AI-generated video that appears to show a US soldier weeping in front of rubble has emerged as authentic footage of the aftermath of an Iranian missile attack.
BOOM tested the video using several AI detection tools to confirm that it was generated using AI.
On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched a coordinated military attack against Iran, marking one of the most significant escalations in the region in recent years. Tehran responded with a wave of missile and drone attacks across the Gulf, targeting U.S. military bases and cities in countries including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
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The video was shared on X with the caption, “Don’t blame anyone but Trump. American soldiers cry for help after Iranian missile attack.”
Click here to view the post and click here for the archive.
What we discovered: Video is generated by AI
1. Inconsistency in the video: The American flag patch on the soldier’s uniform appears distorted and does not match the standard design found on similar U.S. military uniforms. The soldier also appears to be carrying an oddly shaped cell phone with a cracked screen.
2. AI tool flag operations: We found a clearer version of the video without the text overlay and tested it using multiple AI detection tools such as Deepfake-o-Meter and Hiya. Deepfake-o-Meter, developed by the University at Buffalo, used several detection models to analyze clips and flag the presence of AI-generated content in videos.
Additionally, we tested the audio using the AI voice detection tool Hiya. The results confirmed that the audio in the video was not real, with a reliability score of 8 out of 100.
