Amid the war, social media platforms have recently been flooded with false and misleading content related to the confrontation between Israel, the United States, and Iran.
The content includes images and videos, some created using artificial intelligence, others taken from old documentation from months or years ago, and some originating from video games.
Among the misleading posts that gained wide circulation was an image allegedly showing the body of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei under rubble, which was later revealed to have been generated using artificial intelligence.
Google’s identification tools detected a digital marker indicating that the image was created or edited using an AI model. So far, no official image of Khamenei’s body has been published.
An analysis conducted by Wired of hundreds of posts on X-some of which received millions of views-found that the platform continues to serve as a stage for the creation of distorted and false depictions of reality, with minimal oversight from the company.
Among the examples cited was an image claiming that a U.S. radar facility in Qatar had been completely destroyed. It was later discovered to be an AI-edited version of a Google Earth image from last October. The forgery was identified due to identical vehicle locations.
Other misleading content included an image of an Iranian MiG aircraft presented as an American or Israeli aircraft over Tehran, videos of missile attacks in Iran or Bahrain presented as Iranian strikes on Israel, and footage from a previous round of hostilities between Israel and Iran that was circulated as if it were current.
One post showing an Iranian missile launch toward Israel from October 2024-which falsely claimed it depicted a recent attack on Dubai-received 4.4 million views.
At the same time, pro-Iranian accounts on X are using the platform to promote false propaganda. One such account posted an image from a missile attack in Dubai while claiming it showed a strike in Tel Aviv at that very moment. X has not responded to the reports on the matter.
Armenian Telegram channels are also flooding the internet with false reports of “victories" by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian army. Among the claims circulated were a direct strike on the Glilot base, the assassination of Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, an attack on the U.S. Incirlik Air Base, and a strike on an American warship. Some channels also featured explicit antisemitic rhetoric, including insults directed at Jews.
Most of the channels leading the wave of false reports are anti-government groups in Armenia. They oppose Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, oppose reconciliation efforts with Azerbaijan, and reject an economic framework backed by the United States aimed at reducing Armenia’s dependence on Russia and Iran.
In some of the channels, overt antisemitic rhetoric also appears. For example, accounts such as “Radical Armenian," whose symbol includes imagery associated with Nazis, accompany pro-Iranian content with explicit insults against Jews, including the derogatory term “zhids," alongside praise for the performance of Iran’s air defense systems.
This narrative also connects with claims circulating online that attempt to link Israel and the “Jewish world" to what are referred to as the “Epstein files," in reference to the case involving Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. On various channels, an Iranian official was quoted during a state television broadcast saying that Iran is fighting those who “either rape children or blow them up," wording intended to inflame hatred.