US-Iran war: Old videos falsely claim to show new attacks on American bases

After a month-long lull in hostilities, the United States launched fresh air strikes on Iran on Sunday, prompting retaliation from Tehran and renewed fighting across the Middle East. But as the strikes have resumed, so has a wave of misinformation.

As Iran responded to the US strikes by targeting American allies and military sites across the region, social media users began sharing old and unrelated footage, falsely claiming it showed the latest attacks in Jordan, Kuwait and around the Strait of Hormuz.

One widely viewed video, gaining hundreds of thousands of views, claimed to show a US military base in Jordan engulfed in flames. However, it has been circulating online for around six months and was originally presented as footage of a drone attack on the US consulate in Dubai, which we confirmed via geolocation analysis.

Another account shared a blurry clip claiming to show the Iranian military "pounding American bases in Jordan with heavy missiles". In reality, the footage was filmed last year in Ryazan, southeast of Moscow, following a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian oil refinery.

Similar false claims have also emerged around US facilities elsewhere in the Gulf. One video was shared as purported footage of Iran shelling the US consulate in Kuwait, except the original video is from a SWAT operation explosion on a house in Arlington, Virginia.

And the misleading information is not confined to attacks on US facilities.

As tensions remain high around the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, users have circulated old footage claiming to show Iran detonating naval mines in the waterway. The video has appeared across platforms including X, Facebook and Instagram, with some posts claiming the alleged mine explosions were intended to intimidate the United States.

The footage, however, is 68 years old and not linked to the Strait of Hormuz. A reverse image search traces the video to Operation Hardtack I, a series of US nuclear tests conducted in 1958. The specific footage shows the underwater nuclear test known as "Wahoo", which was carried out at Enewetak in the Pacific Ocean.

So while the video may look like a dramatic record of fighting in the Strait of Hormuz, it actually shows a 1958 American nuclear test in the Pacific.