President Donald Trump has shared two AI-generated videos on Truth Social, allegedly depicting the U.S. military’s latest strikes on Iran. He also shared footage claiming that Iran’s oil hub, Kharg Island, had been bombed. The AI-generated footage shows massive explosions at an oil storage tank and an oil tanker as an aircraft hovers over the scene.
“Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT,” read a post. However, there is no evidence of such an attack, and an Iranian official dismissed Trump’s post as “laughable.” A U.S. official also said Monday that the military had not targeted Kharg Island in overnight strikes.
Reuters confirmed that the video clip showing dramatic explosions was most likely synthetically generated, using software that detects AI-manipulated imagery.
“Trump’s tweets are laughable and conditions in Kharg are calm and appropriate,” Hamid Bovard, chief executive of government-run National Iranian Oil Co., said Monday. Bovard also said in a statement that oil operations had not stopped and workers were busy repairing previous damage and modernizing facilities.
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This comes hours after the U.S. military launched an attack on Larak, an island in the Strait of Hormuz. Washington said its attacks were aimed at preventing Iran from launching more sea mines into the strait, days after it announced that it had completed clearing explosives from the strategic waterway.
In a statement, the U.S. Central Command said it took “limited, precise” action against minelaying forces of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that posed an “imminent threat” in the strait. It gave no details.
Iran retaliated by attacking U.S. bases in Jordan. Iran’s army also said it had struck the Al Minhad air base in the United Arab Emirates early Monday. However, the UAE’s Defense Ministry dismissed that report as false. The UAE Defense Ministry later said its air force had engaged a drone that had come from Iran over its territorial waters. It provided no further details, including whether the drone was shot down.
Kharg Island is a strategically important island located in the northern part of the Persian Gulf, off the coast of Iran. Covering roughly 1,000 hectares, it has long been a central hub for Iran’s oil export infrastructure, making it one of the most economically and geopolitically significant islands in the region.
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According to reports, the island handled 90% of Iran’s oil exports before the war started on Feb. 28. However, a U.S. naval blockade sharply curtailed these exports. American officials told Axios that very few tankers have been spotted recently at Kharg Island, but oil from other nations is transiting the waterway through an alternative route along Oman.
Earlier this year, Trump said he was considering whether to seize Kharg Island.
“To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the US say: ‘why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people,” Trump had told the Financial Times.
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump said. “It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.”
According to CNN, the U.S. military had previously targeted Kharg, with strikes on March 13. Central Command said 90 targets had been hit, including “naval mine storage facilities, missile storage bunkers, and multiple other military sites.”