Clip of military exercise misrepresented as US marines capturing Iran vessel
- Published on May 7, 2026 at 11:02
- 2 min read
- By AFP Middle East & North Africa
- Translation and adaptation Sammy HEUNG, AFP Hong Kong
After the US Navy seized an Iranian cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman in April 2026, a video of a military exercise between the Indian and the Seychelles' militaries was shared in posts falsely claiming it showed US marines taking control of a second Iranian vessel. The clip was first uploaded a month before the seizure of the cargo ship, and the troops shown in the video are wearing patches denoting they are from a Seychelles special forces unit.
"US marines have just boarded a second Iranian vessel that refused to comply with the blockade. It's time to destroy Iran's terrorist regime," says the simplified Chinese caption of a video shared on X on April 22, 2026.
The video shows a group of soldiers pointing their guns at several people lying face down on the deck of a vessel.
Similar posts were shared elsewhere on X, as well as in English and Arabic.
The claim circulated after US President Donald Trump said on April 19 that a US destroyer fired on and then seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman after it tried to evade a US naval blockade (archived link).
US Central Command added that marines boarded "the non-compliant vessel, which remains in U.S. custody" (archived link).
The US military also said warplanes had fired on and disabled an Iranian-flagged oil tanker on May 6 (archived link).
But as of May 7 at 0800 GMT, there have been no official reports of marines boarding a second Iranian vessel, as the circulating posts claim.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video found the same footage was shared a month earlier on Instagram (archived link).
The caption of the March 21 video says it shows "LAMITIYE 2026", a joint exercise between militaries of India and the Seychelles held in the Seychelles between March 9 and 20 (archived here and here).
A closer look at the video shows the soldiers are wearing patches of the Seychelles' flag and the badge of the Tazar special forces unit (archived here and here).
AFP reached out to the militaries of India and the Seychelles for comment, but did not receive a response by time of publication.
Subsequent keyword searches on Google found Indian news agency ANI and local outlet India Today also published visuals showing the same soldiers in reports about the drills on March 19 (archived here and here).
AFP has previously debunked other false claims related to the Middle East war.
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