Mass explosion video is AI-generated, not US attack on Iran
"Heavy water nuclear plant at Arak. I guess Trump wasn't bluffing after all - just part of the fireworks in Iran. Expect to see more surprises," 21, 2025 Facebook post sharing the clip of a mushroom cloud detonation over a residential area.
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A screenshot of a Facebook reel taken June 26, 2025
video, which also circulated in Spanish and in French, spread as violence escalated in the Middle East, with Israel bombarding Iran and the US military striking its nuclear installations before a ceasefire was reached.
attacked three Iranian sites key to Tehran's nuclear program on the night of June 21, hitting targets in the provinces of Natanz, Isfahan and the mountain-buried Fordo. The strikes added to a 12-day Israeli campaign that also targeted the country's top military brass and saw Iran retaliate by firing waves of missiles at Israel.
US President Donald Trump has insisted the operation was a "spectacular military success" that "obliterated" Iran's nuclear sites, despite an intelligence assessment that raised doubts and claims from the Iranian government that it had "taken the necessary measures" to ensure the continuation of its program.
Arak's heavy water reactor was attacked June 19 by Israel, not the US military, according to the Israel Defense Forces (archived here).
But the video of the massive blast circulating on social media is AI-generated.
A Google reverse image search uncovered an identical video posted June 18 to YouTube by the Turkey-based account "@cmlacyn" (archived here). The video's title -- as well as comments from the author -- reference AI usage.
The owner of the account, Cemil Aciyan, states in his bio that "all videos on this channel are produced with artificial intelligence" (archived here).
a June 20 direct message on Instagram, Aciyan confirmed to AFP: "I created all the videos on my channel with artificial intelligence."
A search on Aciyan's other social media platforms yielded results for the same video on Instagram with the caption: "It's not real, I produced it with artificial intelligence" (archived here).
AFP has debunked a slew of online misinformation about Iran here.
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