AI-generated video falsely shared as US military plane struck by Iran
- Published on May 18, 2026 at 11:31
- 3 min read
- By Livia LIU, AFP Hong Kong
After US and Iranian forces exchanged fire in the Strait of Hormuz against the backdrop of a fragile truce in May 2026, social media users shared a fabricated clip purporting to show the damaged aircraft that was part of a high-risk mission to rescue stranded US pilots in Iran a month earlier. The video contains apparent visual inconsistencies and partly repurposes a decades-old image from the Iraq war in 2003 -- signs that it was generated using AI.
"Guys, check out the latest video! A damaged US Air Force A-10 Warthog has been captured on camera. One of its engines was completely destroyed," reads part of a Weibo post published on May 11, 2026.
The post shares a 16‑second video of a damaged aircraft, which the simplified Chinese caption claims is a US A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, also known as the "Warthog". The first shot shows the aircraft on a runway, while the second shot shows it parked at an air base with soldiers standing nearby.
"The aircraft sustained this damage after being struck by Iranian forces during a US military operation to rescue a pilot. However, true to the A-10's reputation for rugged durability, it managed to fly back to base -- even with one engine missing."
The posts circulated weeks into a fragile Middle East truce after reports that the United States and Iran had exchanged fire in the Strait of Hormuz on May 7 (archived here and here).
Earlier in April, the United States conducted a high-risk rescue operation to save the two crew members of an F-15 fighter jet shot down by Iran on April 3. Both personnel were safely evacuated (archived link).
Over 20 military aircraft were dispatched to rescue the pilot, including an A-10 ground attack aircraft that was struck by enemy fire. The pilot ejected over friendly territory after deciding it was too damaged to land safely.
The clip was shared alongside similar claims in Chinese on X, Threads, Douyin and Rednote, and in Arabic, English and Spanish across multiple platforms, but it is in fact AI-generated.
A keyword search on Douyin found a higher resolution version of the same video published on May 10. The user regularly posts AI-generated content related to the Middle East war (archived link).
An analysis of the video using the Hive Moderation detection tool found it is likely AI-generated, while Google's SynthID detector found its audiotrack was created with the tech giant's AI tools (archived link).
The 16-second clip contains several visual inconsistencies indicating the video is fabricated, including blurred and distorted numbers on the runway, while a black decal on the aircraft's tail disappears in the second shot.
Soldiers can be seen walking behind the aircraft, but one has his back turned as he walks towards the camera while his arm flaps unnaturally.
Subsequent reverse image searches using the clip's keyframes found an image showing an aircraft with similar damage published to Warthog News, a blog dedicated to the Warthog aircraft (archived link).
The photo's caption says it was taken on April 8, 2003 after it was struck by a surface-to-air missile in Iraq.
Matching details of the damaged A-10 aircraft can be seen in another similar image uploaded on Facebook by Air Zoo, an aerospace museum in Michigan, along with another image published on the 110th Wing unit's blog (archived here and here).
According to the 110th Wing's blog, the A-10 planes flew in support of Coalition ground forces during the opening stages of the Iraq War.
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation related to the Middle East war.
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