Old clip of Iranian speedboat falsely linked to US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz
- Published on April 21, 2026 at 09:41
- 2 min read
- By AFP Middle East & North Africa
- Translation and adaptation Sammy HEUNG, AFP Hong Kong
After US President Donald Trump warned in April 2026 that US forces would destroy any Iranian "fast attack ships" that approach the American naval blockade of Iranian ports, posts recirculated an old video falsely claiming it shows an Iranian navy speedboat intercepting an American warship. The footage was filmed in 2022 when an Iranian navy vessel approached a US patrol coastal ship at high speed.
"Iranian navy speedboats fearlessly intercepted and forced back a US warship. Didn't Trump brag that he had 100 percent wiped out the Iranian navy? How come there are still speedboats? And the main point is they didn't even dare to confront them," says the traditional Chinese X post shared on April 13, 2026.
The post included a clip that depicts a speedboat bearing the flag of Iran moving towards the direction of the camera, while a boat horn can be heard in the background.
The posts surfaced after Tehran and Washington held a round of negotiations that failed to culminate in a deal to end the war (archived link).
The talks took place against the backdrop of a fragile two-week ceasefire which began on April 8. Four days later, Trump ordered a US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, saying that any Iranian who fires at US forces or peaceful vessels will be "blown to hell" (archived link).
Iran slammed Trump's action as a "grave violation" of its sovereignty, and warned that it would block trade through the Red Sea, along with the Gulf and Sea of Oman, if the US blockade on Iranian ports continues (archived here and here).
Similar claims have emerged on Baidu and Bilibili, as well as on posts in other languages such as Russian, Portuguese, and Arabic.
One of the users who thought the claim was true said: "That’s not a friendly approach under ceasefire. A sign that the Negotiation may be a buying time to restock for a long-term war."
Another person compared the boat to a cockroach "looking for a place to hide".
But the video is old.
A reverse image search of a key frame on Google led to a report from the US Naval Forces Central Command published on June 20, 2022 (archived link).
The report described an incident where three vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy "interacted in an unsafe and unprofessional manner" as US Navy ships transited the Strait of Hormuz on June 20, 2022.
One of the images on the report matches with the clip in the false post.
Further keyword search in the US military's Defense Visual Information Distribution Service found the original footage of the incident published on June 20, 2022 (archived link).
"Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) operates in an unsafe and unprofessional manner in close proximity to patrol coastal ship USS Sirocco (PC 6) and expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Choctaw County (T-EPF 2) in the Strait of Hormuz, June 20," its caption said.
AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the Iran war here.
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