Arizona fire misrepresented as Iran attack on UAE oil facility
- Published on May 11, 2026 at 05:44
- 2 min read
- By Ramadani SAPUTRA, AFP Indonesia
Weeks into a fragile ceasefire in the Middle East War, the United Arab Emirates accused Iran of launching fresh attacks -- including on one of its energy facilities -- and video of a massive fire surfaced in posts falsely claiming it showed the strike. The clip in fact depicts a wildfire in the US state of Arizona that also occurred in May 2026.
"Iranian Drone Attacks United Arab Emirates, Fujairah Oil Facility Burns," says Indonesian-language text overlaid on an Instagram video from May 5, 2026.
The clip, apparently taken from a vehicle and showing thick dark smoke along a highway, has been viewed more than 57,000 times.
The post surfaced a day after the UAE said its air defence systems were actively engaging with missiles from Iran, including on an energy installation in the emirate of Fujairah (archived link).
Iran's military "categorically denied" launching the strikes, calling the reports "completely unfounded".
The same footage was shared alongside similar claims on TikTok, Facebook and X, and appeared in various languages, including Arabic, English and Spanish.
However, it is unrelated to the Middle East conflict.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes traced the same clip to a TikTok post from The Weather Channel on May 5 (archived link).
"The Hazen Fire has scorched nearly 1,000 acres of dense vegetation southwest of Buckeye, where erratic 30 mph wind gusts are currently pushing thick smoke across the Phoenix Valley," the caption reads.
Text overlaid to the clip credits it to a person named Nicole Gaynor, and indicates the location as Buckeye, a city near the Arizona state capital Phoenix.
Further searches found that a TikTok account called @nikkiwhoknows posted the same video as the one uploaded by The Weather Channel on May 3 (archived link).
The account also shared other videos showing the aftermath of the fire (archived here and here).
The TikTok user has not responded to AFP's queries about whether she is the person who provided the footage of the fire to The Weather Channel.
Local media reports said the fire in Buckeye began on May 2 near Hazen and Rook road, east of State Route 85 (archived link). Authorities are still investigating the cause.
The footage corresponds with the Google Street View imagery from State Route 85 near Buckeye (archived link).
AFP has debunked a wave of misinformation related to the war in the Middle East here.
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