Clip and image unrelated to US blockade of Iranian ports
- Published on April 22, 2026 at 06:35
- 3 min read
- By Livia LIU, AFP Hong Kong
The United States has ordered vessels in the Strait of Hormuz to return to Iran as it maintains a naval blockade, but video purportedly showing these ships shared on social media in fact depicts a Russian destroyer and a weeks-old photo from the waterway. The footage of the Russian warship matches images previously distributed by AFP, while the photo included in the falsely shared video was earlier published by The Associated Press news agency on March 11.
"Eight Iranian oil tankers, while crossing the Strait of Hormuz and heading to China, were intercepted by the US Navy and forced to turn back from the Arabian Sea," reads part of the simplified Chinese caption of an X video shared on April 15, 2026.
The video, which has been viewed more than 198,000 times, shows a clip of a navy warship side-by-side with a still image of oil tankers.
It circulated as the United States blockaded Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, after talks between Washington and Tehran held in Islamabad on April 11 failed to produce a deal to end the Middle East war (archived here and here).
The war, initiated by joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, saw Tehran launch strikes against Israel and US interests in the Gulf. Iran also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's busiest oil shipping channels, rattling energy markets and sending global fuel prices soaring (archived link).
President Donald Trump said on April 21 the US blockade of Iran's ports would continue even as he indefinitely pushed back the end of the two week truce to the war (archived link).
The same video was also shared elsewhere in similar X posts, in multiple languages.
Since the start of the blockade, US forces have directed 27 vessels to turn around or return to an Iranian port, the US military said on April 20 (archived link).
AFP reported that the Chinese-owned tanker Rich Starry -- which was listed as being sanctioned by Washington for ties to Iran -- had been turned around while transiting the strait on April 14 (archived link).
Trump also said on April 21 that US forces intercepted a ship carrying a "gift" to Iran from China as Tehran tries to restock its military during a ceasefire period (archived link).
But there have been no official reports of the US Navy intercepting eight oil tankers heading to China.
The video used in the posts also does not show a US Navy warship or oil tankers that were forced to turn around, as claimed.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes of the navy warship video led to an X post published on April 12, which said it was the Russian destroyer Severomorsk (archived here and here).
The destroyer has the same silhouette as the ship in the falsely shared video, and also has the same "619" number visible on the hull.
Photos previously distributed by AFP also show the same ship, identified as the Severomorsk.
A separate reverse image search of the photo of oil tankers on TinEye led to an image distributed by the AP news agency on March 11 (archived link).
The photo's caption reads, "Oil tankers and cargo ships line up in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates".
AFP has debunked other misinformation stemming from the Middle East war.
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