AI videos showing an attack on a US Navy vessel at sea and a child mourning in front of a US soldier’s coffin have been shared as real and falsely linked to the ongoing conflict between Iran and US-Israel forces.
BOOM found that the videos are fake and do not show real scenes. Tests using AI detection tools also confirmed the same.
The US military, along with Israeli forces, has been engaged in a conflict with Iran since February 28 with the escalation in West Asia prompting the United Nations warning about the economic impact of the crisis and its potential consequences. The conflict has fuelled the generation of scores of AI generated content, fabricated videos and repurposed visuals, overwhelming verification experts.
Claim 1: Video Shows Child of Martyred US Soldier Grieving Father’s Loss in Front of Coffin
A verified X handle posted the video with the caption, "Today a child lost his father — a brave U.S. soldier who gave his life for his country. His sacrifice will never be forgotten."
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Claim 2: Video Shows Iran Attacking US Navy Vessel
The video was shared on X with the caption, "Breaking Just now, a major attack has been reported on the U.S. Navy. The footage clearly shows that Iran’s missile power is increasing day by day."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
What We Found: AI-Generated Videos Shared as Real
Video 1: Child of Martyred US Soldier Grieving His Father’s Loss
We first broke the video into keyframes, ran a reverse image search on them, and tried to find a credible source, but found none. Instead, the same video was found on an Instagram page dated March 14, 2026, with a visible InVideo AI watermark, a platform that creates videos from text prompts.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
We also noticed several other videos on the Instagram page ‘PawLabsAI’ carrying the InVideo AI watermark.
Taking a cue, we tested the video using the AI detection tool Hive Moderation, which found a 98 percent likelihood of the video being AI-generated. We also analysed it using Deepfake-o-Meter, developed by the University at Buffalo, which tested it across multiple parameters and confirmed it as AI-made.
Video 2: Attack on a US Navy Vessel at Sea
We did not find a credible source for the video. A closer look at the video revealed a visible discrepancy, the smoke from the burning part of the ship suddenly disappears when the camera angle changes, a common issue seen in AI-generated visuals.
We then ran it through Hive Moderation, which indicated a 93.9 percent likelihood of it being AI-generated. Tests using multiple parameters on the AI detection tool Deepfake-o-Meter further indicated that the video contains AI-generated visuals.