A video from January 2026 showing the United Kingdom's Royal Navy submarine HMS Anson in Gibraltar is being shared with the false claim that it depicts a British nuclear-powered submarine arriving in the Arabian Sea.
On March 21, 2026, The Daily Mail reported, citing UK military sources, that a nuclear-powered Royal Navy submarine had arrived in the Arabian Sea, with claims that HMS Anson is positioned in the region and capable of launching cruise missile strikes if the conflict escalates. This followed a statement on March 20 that the UK had agreed to allow the US to use British bases to carry out strikes on Iranian sites targeting the Strait of Hormuz.
The Claim:
The video is being shared on X with the claim that a British nuclear-powered Royal Navy submarine has arrived in the Arabian Sea, suggesting the UK has escalated its involvement in the ongoing conflict against Iran.
Click here to view an archive.
What We Found:
1) Video from Gibraltar predates the conflict
Taking a cue from the "GBC News" logo visible in the video, we searched for the source and found that the footage was posted by Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) on January 20, 2026. The video predates the United States–Israel war on Iran, which began on February 28, 2026.
GBC is the national public service broadcaster for Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, bordering Spain. The video's caption stated that the UK Royal Navy's Astute-class submarine HMS Anson was in Gibraltar. The visuals in the original footage match those in the viral video.