Following Israel’s large-scale military operation in Iran in the early hours of June 13, an avalanche of videos and images purporting to document the attack and Tehran’s alleged response has inundated social media. However, not everything being shared is genuine.

A closer look by German news agency DW Fact Check – part of the German public state-owned international broadcaster Deutsche Welle reveals that a considerable volume of the content circulating online is fabricated, manipulated, or taken from unrelated events. Most was generated in Iran or in support of the regime.

That Iran would be alone in such fake media generation is unlikely, however, at present no effective or reliable third-country media sources have yet to show Israeli sources working in the same manner to fool the world.

A wave of AI-generated imagery

In one example, a viral video on TikTok, amassing more than 660,000 views claims to show the precise sites in Iran targeted and destroyed by Israeli missile strikes on the first day of the hostilities. Research by DW showed that the initial images were indeed fabricated and that the video was entirely AI-generated; a fact betrayed by several tell-tale inconsistencies.

In one scene a teddy bear with an unnaturally clean appearance and a distorted face sits incongruously among burnt-out vehicles. Elsewhere, at what appears to be a burning airfield supposedly attacked by Israel, one group of firefighters remains eerily frozen, while others vanish entirely, both clear signs of digital rendering DW claims.

A background check on the TikTok account responsible by the German news agency - named Malka.415 - shows a pattern of AI-generated news content posted around major world events, suggesting a deliberate attempt to generate viral engagement through sensational but spurious visuals.

In another investigation several widely shared posts on X claim to show footage of incoming Israeli missiles targetting Iranian territory or, alternatively, Iranian missiles launched in retaliation.

The DW verdict on these videos is blunt - false.

The footage in question predates the current escalation. A reverse image search reveals that the same material was first uploaded eight months ago, likely depicting an Iranian missile launch in October 2024 following a previous Israeli strike. Notably, this very clip has been recycled repeatedly - debunked earlier when it was wrongly used to illustrate conflict in Kashmir between India and Pakistan in May which itself highlights a recurring tactic in the disinformation space: reusing old footage to feed a false narrative, often relying on viewers’ limited awareness or the fog of fast-developing events.

Mislabelled military exercises

Yet another image circulated widely on X and viewed more than 3.6mn times purports to show Iran launching missiles at Israel in direct retaliation for the June 13 strikes. DW deemed this image as misleading and unrelated.

Although Iran did launch drones as was well documented following Israel’s attacks, there had been no official confirmation of missile strikes at the time the image was posted. Crucially, another reverse image search traced the photograph to December 2021, when it was taken during the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ “Great Prophet 17” military drills.

Pattern of digital deception

This latest surge of misinformation is part of a broader trend observed in recent conflicts - where AI tools, old footage, and military propaganda are weaponised in the information space alongside conventional arms on the battlefield.

The purpose is simple and nothing more than a bid to sow confusion, stoke public emotion, and shape perceptions in real time.

Disinformation experts, DW says, warn that the speed and scale at which such fabricated material can spread, especially during fast-moving geopolitical crises, has outpaced the ability of ordinary users and even social media platforms to verify authenticity.

The result is a digital smokescreen, where truth competes with spectacle for attention.

And that Tehran alone would act in this manner would be just as naive as believing all the claims coming out on social media showing firefighters vanishing as they tackle a fire and teddy bears looking spotless in the midst of battle. China too already works to sow disinformation on a daily basis about Taiwan off its east coast. Any future invasion of the self-governing island as has long been forecast would be accompanied from Day 1 by a planet-wide assault on social media by units of the People’s Liberation Army specially trained to do so.

As such, while Israel and Iran at present continue to trade both rhetoric and ordinance in the latest conflict to capture the world's attention, it is becoming increasingly difficult for untrained observers on social media to separate reality from fiction.

One day it may be the turn of China and Taiwan, China and India, North and South Korea, Pakistan and India etc etc but by then perhaps the world will be a little wiser to the ways of AI and the efforts of governments keen on employing such methods.