US warehouse blaze clip misrepresented as Middle East war scene
- Published on July 22, 2026 at 05:46
- 2 min read
- By Felix NATHANIEL, AFP Indonesia
As the United States and Iran traded fire following the collapse of their ceasefire agreement in early July 2026, social media posts falsely shared an old video of a warehouse in flames claiming it was a US weapons facility in Saudi Arabia. The footage has circulated since February 2023, and in fact depicts a blaze at a warehouse in the US state of Illinois.
"Iran attacks US explosives logistics warehouses in Saudi Arabia," reads English and Indonesian text superimposed on a TikTok video posted on July 15, 2026.
The video shows aerial footage of several buildings engulfed in flames, sending thick plumes of smoke into the air.
The footage also spread in similar TikTok and Facebook posts as the war between the United States and Iran reignited following the collapse of a ceasefire agreement signed in mid-June (archived link).
US President Donald Trump officially declared the peace deal "over" on July 8, after Iranian strikes on commercial vessels near the vital Strait of Hormuz (archived link).
The two sides have traded fire, with the United States hitting Iranian targets and Iran's Revolutionary Guard striking US interests in the Gulf (archived link).
But the circulating footage does not show a US weapons warehouse in Saudi Arabia, as posts claim.
AFP previously debunked a similar claim that used the same footage in April.
Chicago Heights fire
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to a higher-quality version shared in an X post by Chicago-based reporter Sarah Jindra on February 6, 2023 (archived link).
"Unbelievable. Huge fire in Chicago Heights at 11th and Washington. Appears to be a shipping facility," says its caption.
Jindra, who co-hosts the Spotlight Chicago TV show, also posted other videos of the same fire filmed from a helicopter (archived here, here and here).
The fire -- which broke out at a manufacturing warehouse in the early hours of February 6, 2023 -- was covered by Chicago-based channels WGN-TV and ABC7 Chicago, and nationally by CBS News (archived here, here and here).
Authorities said the blaze was extinguished by around noon, and no injuries were reported.
A Chicago Tribune report published two years after the fire said its cause had never been determined (archived link).
The building shown in the video matches satellite imagery of the factory available on Google Maps.
AFP has also debunked other misinformation related to the war in the Middle East.
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