Video shows Iranian attack on Bahrain, not US bank's office in UAE
- Published on March 30, 2026 at 06:59
- 2 min read
- By Grace MOON, AFP South Korea
The Gulf has borne the brunt of Iran's retaliation to US-Israeli attacks initiated on February 28, but a video circulating on social media does not show an American bank's offices being struck in the UAE as claimed. The footage in fact shows a residential building in Bahrain, and the bank's holding company says reports of damage to its offices and branches in the region are false.
"Breaking: Iranian missiles struck a building in Dubai housing Citibank offices," says part of the Korean-language caption of an X video shared on March 15, 2026.
"The attack occurred shortly after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) designated US-related facilities and US financial institutions as targets, exposing the largest US-linked financial hub in the Middle East to a direct threat."
The video appears to show a building being struck by a projectile, causing an explosion and engulfing its top floors in fire and smoke.
The video also circulated in similar Korean-language YouTube and Facebook posts, and in other languages including English, Urdu and Hindi.
A keyword search shows that Iranian state television's English-language broadcaster Press TV also posted the video on X on March 14.
It spread as Iran took aim at US assets and civilian infrastructure including landmarks, airports, ports and oil facilities around the Gulf after US-Israeli attacks decimated its leadership.
AFP reported on March 19 that Iran had fired more than 1,900 missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates, more than any other country targeted by Tehran since the start of the war (archived link).
Citibank's parent company Citi, consultancies Deloitte and PwC and other firms in Dubai closed offices or asked employees to evacuate from the heart of the Middle East’s financial hub (archived link).
But the video does not depict an attack on a Citibank office in Dubai, and Citi said in a March 14 statement that reports of damage to its offices or branches in the UAE and Bahrain are false (archived link).
Bahrain tower
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to similar, higher-quality clips shared as part of a compilation put together by Euronews and shared on its verified Facebook page on March 1 (archived link).
"Residential buildings targeted in Bahrain's capital, Manama," says its caption.
Bahrain's interior ministry said on March 1 that three residential buildings in and around the capital Manama were damaged by drone strikes and debris from an intercepted missile, as Iran carried out strikes across the oil-rich Gulf in response to US and Israeli attacks (archived link).
A closer look at the building shown being struck in the Euronews clips shows the word "Era" is visible on its facade.
AFP-distributed photos showing the aftermath of the strikes also show the word written across the top of one damaged building.
Subsequent keyword searches led to the official website of Era View Tower in Manama, Bahrain (archived link). The building also matches Google Street View imagery of the Manama skyline (archived link).
AFP has debunked several claims stemming from the Middle East war.
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