Clip of 'burning Mossad building' made with AI
- Published on June 24, 2025 at 09:04
- 3 min read
- By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India
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"Israel was boasting about Mossad to the whole world that this intelligence agency, Mossad, is very powerful," says a Hindi-language X post published June 17.
"Iran blew up the entire Mossad headquarters building in the air with a single hypersonic missile."
The post includes an eight-second clip of a massive explosion followed by a fire that engulfs and destroys a structure, claiming it shows a "burning Mossad building."
Similar posts on Facebook also falsely portrayed the video as a genuine scene from the unprecedented exchange of attacks that have killed hundreds in Iran and two dozen in Israel (archived link).
The Middle East adversaries have been trading deadly fire in their most intense confrontation in history since Israel carried out surprise strikes against Iran, targeting nuclear and military sites (archived link).
Tehran has said its targets in Israel included "sensitive" security sites, claiming attacks on the headquarters of the Mossad spy agency and air force bases (archived link).
The United States, joining its ally Israel's military campaign against Iran, attacked an underground uranium enrichment centre with massive bunker-busting bombs and hit two other nuclear facilities.
US President Donald Trump announced on June 23 that Iran and Israel had agreed to a staggered ceasefire (archived link).
A reverse image search of keyframes found the clip posted May 18 on TikTok -- before the Iran-Israel war (archived link).
The account has previously shared fabricated clips and has a disclaimer on its profile that reads: "ALL VIDEOS I POST ARE AI GENERATED."
An AFP analysis of the clip found visual errors, including debris from the blast suddenly disappearing.
Such mistakes still occur despite the meteoric rise in generative AI technology and are a tell-tale sign that visuals are inauthentic.
AFP has debunked more misinformation related to the Iran-Israel conflict here.
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