CLAIM
Viral video of Iranian missile attacking Israel amid the ongoing conflict between the two countries
RATING JUSTIFICATION
The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is false.
To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan analysed the video using AI detection tools.
Multiple pro-Iranian accounts and users shared a video across social media platforms on March 5, 2026, claiming it allegedly showed an Iranian missile attacking Israel amid the ongoing conflict. However, the video is AI-generated.
Israel and the United States launched joint military strikes on Iran on February 28, 2026, significantly escalating tensions in the Middle East. President Donald Trump confirmed that the US had begun major combat operations, stating that the objective was to eliminate imminent threats from Iran and protect the American people.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — who had led the Islamic Republic for more than three decades — was killed in a strike in the early hours of Feb 28. The attack was carried out by the US and Israel, both of which had previously called for regime change in Tehran.
Iran condemned the strikes as unprovoked and illegal. In response, it launched missile attacks targeting Israel and at least seven other countries, including Gulf states that host US military bases, and vowed retaliation for Khamenei’s assassination.
HOW IT STARTED
On March 5, a pro-Iranian user shared a video showing a missile hitting a building, followed by a huge fire. The caption of the post read, “Israeli defence systems are collapsing in the face of Iranian missiles”
The post gained 891,400 views.
Another account shared the same video with a similar caption, gaining 471,500 views. It is important to note that X flagged the post as AI content.
A social media user shared the same clip with the following caption: “Tel Aviv. The world is watching live and direct as all the power and technology of the USA is crumbling before the force of the impacts from Iranian missiles. Countries that have invested billions in this junk are now realising they’ve been scammed”
The post gained 451,800 views.
Another pro-Iranian account posted the same clip in the same context, accumulating 50,000 views.
The clip with a similar context was shared by several other users on Facebook, as can be seen here and here; on YouTube, as can be seen here, here, and here; on X, as can be seen here, here, here and here; collectively gaining 61,000 views.
METHODOLOGY
A fact-check was initiated due to the video’s high virality and keen public interest in the conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran.
A reverse image search was conducted to check whether the viral clip was shared by any credible Iranian or international media outlets in their reporting of the attacks but yielded no results.
Inspecting the footage shows that the smoke trail is unusually straight and does not disperse.
At the beginning of the clip, a small missile attack appears on the right side of the frame, but it vanishes later on, with no visible impact.
Analysing the clip using AI detection tools showed that Decopy AI flagged it as 100 per cent AI-generated.
Similarly, Total Deepfake flagged it as 47pc AI-generated.
These findings indicate that the video is digitally manipulated and doctored.
FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE
The claim that a viral video shows an Iranian missile attacking Israel amid the ongoing conflict is false.
While missile exchanges between Iran and Israel have occurred in recent days, this specific video is AI-generated.
MULTIPLE CLAIMS
At the same time, iVerify Pakistan observed multiple other claims regarding the conflict between the US, Israel and Iran. Here are more claims that were debunked by the platform.
Viral video of Iran striking US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln — FALSE
On March 5, a pro-Iranian account on X shared a video allegedly showing a fire and heavy smoke on a large naval ship with the caption: “Urgent: Iranian Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters: We have struck the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln with a direct and devastating hit.”
The post gained more than 933,000 views.
The same video was also shared by another account on X with the following caption: “Iranian missiles struck the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln with direct ballistic missiles in the second round of strikes or the 19th wave of retaliatory strikes.”
This post received over 792,000 views.
The claim was also shared by several other X users with similar captions, as can be seen here and here.
A reverse image search yielded a YouTube video uploaded on February 2, 2021, titled “How did the ‘Perfect Storm’ destroy USS Bonhomme?”, which contains the same footage as the viral clip.
Further keyword searches related to USS Bonhomme Richard and the fire incident yielded a BBC news report dated October 20, 2021, titled “Navy report blames crew for devastating fire on the Bonhomme Richard.”
The report includes a video in which the 29-second mark shows the same footage as the viral clip.
According to the report, a 2020 fire aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard in San Diego burned for four days, injuring 40 sailors and 23 civilians and ultimately leading to the loss of the ship. A US Navy investigation found that although the fire was allegedly started by arson, major failures in the command chain and firefighting response allowed the blaze to spread uncontrollably.
The investigation identified 36 sailors, including five admirals, as having contributed to the incident due to delayed reporting of the fire, failure to activate firefighting systems, poor training, and lack of coordination with civilian responders.
Therefore, the claim that a viral video shows Iran striking the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln is false. The video actually shows a 2020 fire aboard USS Bonhomme Richard in San Diego.
Viral video of Maulana Tariq Jamil crying over Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatullah Khamenei – FALSE
On March 2, a social media user shared a video on Instagram showing Maulana Tariq Jamil weeping with the following caption: “Maulana Tariq Jamil sahab crying on the death news of martyred Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Ayatullah Khamenei”.
The post gained 4.2 million views and was liked by 333,000 users.
Official Iranian state media outlets, Fars News, Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), and IRNA Urdu also shared the same video with a similar caption on X.
Multiple other users shared the same video in a similar context on several social media platforms, such as Facebook; Instagram, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here and here; and on X, as can be seen here, here, here and here. It collectively accumulated more than 420,000 views.
A reverse image search yielded the same video shared on Facebook by a user on June 3, 2025, with the following caption: “Those who made Maulana Tariq Jamil cry, they will all cry one day.”
The same video was also shared by multiple other users during June 2025 on Instagram, as can be seen here and here.
Therefore, the claim that a viral video shows Maulana Tariq Jamil crying over the martyrdom of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatullah Khamenei is false. The video is old from June 2025 and unrelated to current events.
Viral video of American aircraft carrier destroyed by Iranian missile strikes – FALSE
A pro-Iranian user shared a video on X of an aircraft carrier on fire on March 4 with the following caption: “Look where all the money stolen from so many nations is ending up.”
The post received 303,400 views.
Another pro-Iranian account on X shared the same video on March 5, claiming that the video showed the USS Arleigh Burke destroyer being destroyed by a “Haydari missile”.
The post gained 867,500 views.
The same video was also widely circulated across multiple platforms, including YouTube, Facebook and X, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here and here, further amplifying the claim.
A frame-by-frame visual inspection of the viral video revealed several inconsistencies that indicated the video was likely AI-generated.
At the two-second mark, the smoke from the fire appears to blow in one direction while the American flags on the ship wave in the opposite direction. Under normal conditions, both smoke and flags should move consistently with the same wind direction, suggesting a visual inconsistency in the video.
Another anomaly appears between the 2-6 second marks. At the two-second mark, a white aircraft is visible, stationed beneath the American flag, but by the six-second mark, the aircraft disappears entirely without any visible movement or transition. This sudden disappearance strongly suggests artificial or AI-generated visual elements.
The video was also analysed using AI detection tools with Hive Moderation flagging it as 91pc likely to be AI-generated.
Sightengine flagged the video as 52pc AI-generated.
A keyword search of international news outlets to verify whether any such real incident involving a US aircraft carrier had occurred found no credible reports of an Iranian missile strike destroying any such vessel.
Therefore, the claim that a viral video shows an American aircraft carrier destroyed by Iranian missile strikes is false. The video is AI-generated.