Amid rising tensions in the Middle East, several AI-generated videos that appear to show scenes of destruction, fire, and civilian panic have been circulating on social media platforms as real footage of military clashes between Iran and US-Israeli forces.
Testing with multiple AI detection tools showed that the visuals were generated using artificial intelligence.
Since the military conflict between Iran and the US-Israel alliance began on February 28, 2026, social media platforms have been flooded with AI-generated visuals falsely linked to war. Amid growing concerns about AI misinformation, X product director Nikita Beer announced a 90-day suspension from creator revenue sharing for users who posted AI-generated war videos without making them publicly available. Additionally, Beer claimed that several recent fake war videos about X were produced using OpenAI’s Sora, and noted that Sora metadata was detected in them.
Claim 1: Video showing Iranian missile attack on Burj Khalifa in Dubai
A verified X user shared a video with the caption: “1,800 missiles fired at Burj Khalifa. All missiles hit the target.”
Click here to see the post, click here to see the archive.
Claim 2: Video captures destruction caused by Iran in Bahrain
Mahesh Jethmalani, a former Rajya Sabha member, posted the video and wrote, “Now Bahrain is under attack by Iran! These images coming out of the Middle East are mind-boggling in so many ways.”
Click here to see the post, click here to see the archive.
Claim 3: Video shows civilians panicking after Iranian missile attack on Israel
The video was shared on Instagram with the caption: “Today, the world is witnessing a dramatic change of events. The same attacks that were once committed against the Palestinians are now being experienced by Israel itself. Missiles from Iran are falling, chaos and fear are visible. This moment reminds the world that true power belongs only to Allah.”
Click here to see the post, click here to see the archive.
What we discovered: The video is generated by AI and is not real footage
BOOM could not find any reliable sources or news reports to verify the video shared with the viral claim.
Video allegedly showing missile attack on Burj Khalifa
While examining the video, it was observed that people walking in the frame suddenly become distorted and merged with other people. This distortion is similar to glitches commonly associated with AI-generated visuals. The videos were then analyzed using Deepfake-o-Meter and Hive Moderation, an AI detection tool developed by the University at Buffalo.
The results of both tools showed that the videos were generated using artificial intelligence.
Footage showing attack on Bahrain
We noticed several inconsistencies in this video, typical signs of AI-generated content, such as two cars appearing to merge while moving on the road, and pedestrians suddenly appearing and disappearing.
Inspired, this video was tested using AI detection tools Deepfake-o-Meter and Hive Moderation. Analysis detected multiple signs of human manipulation, suggesting that the visuals were not real.
Visuals shared as panic among civilians
We tested the video using Undetectable AI and Deepfake-o-Meter. Both tools, which evaluate multiple technical parameters, detected signs of artifacts in the footage.
