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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

War & conflict fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about war & conflict. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

5,821 published reviews in this topic

Deutsche WelleWar & conflict

This video, which shows a massive pile of smoke allegedly rising from a nuclear site bombed by the US, has been shared on several platforms including TikTok, where a user has added the watermark "Good morning Iran from the B-2 Spirit." The video opens on a village road surrounded by dense greenery, then tilts upward to reveal a towering column of smoke.

Publisher’s rating: False This footage is not related to any military activity. It shows a volcanic eruption in Indonesia. A reverse image search confirms the video first appeared online last week, and was part of broader coverage of the eruption. Numerous photos and videos of the same volcanic event can be found online. The landscape is another giveaway. The road is bordered by tropical forest and the scene has nothing in common with the semi-arid, desert-like surroundings of Iran's nuclear facilities.

youturnWar & conflict

Breaking! This is the footage of the bombing of Iran's Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities! Trump has provoked Iran by attacking it! And Trump wants Iran to maintain peace!

Publisher’s rating: false

Related reporting says U.S. strikes hit Iran’s Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites on June 22, 2025; it does not establish whether the footage in the claim shows those strikes. One report quotes Trump saying, “My preference is to solve this through diplomacy,” but that alone does not establish his broader intentions about peace with Iran.

Deutsche WelleWar & conflict

Footage circulating on TikTok and YouTube on Monday morning claims to show an American B-2 stealth bomber being shot down over Iran during the US bombing raid on the Iranian nuclear facility at Fordo over the weekend. The video accrued over 70,000 views on a TikTok channel that has posted a dozen other clearly AI-generated videos before being deleted.

Publisher’s rating: False Both the footage and the claim are fake. Aside from the fact that the Pentagon officially confirmed on Sunday that all seven B-2s and their crews had returned safely, with major international news outlets including the BBC, CBS and The Associated Press carrying footage of their return, there are several aspects of the social media video which reveal it to be manipulated. A reverse image search for various screenshots revealed that the same footage had earlier been uploaded to a YouTube channel along with the claim: "Iran shoots down US B-2 plane." A disclaimer, points out that the content is "altered or synthetic." Other reverse image search results lead to a different video in which the zig-zagging flightpath taken by an anti-aircraft missile appears to be identical to that taken by the missile in the original video. This video featured a disclaimer pointing out: "This video is gaming footage, just for fun." Indeed, a closer look at the original frames suggests that the air-defense system firing the missile is positioned on animated terrain and in a landscape which doesn't reflect the reality of what we know about the raid on Fordo. That raid took place in a mountainous location, not a grassy field, in the middle of the night, local time, not during daylight.

Deutsche WelleWar & conflict

Several videos have also been circulating on social media claiming to show the US strikes on Fordo or their aftermath, including here (1.5m views).

Publisher’s rating: False The video is real but has been taken out of context, and actually shows the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes on an oil depot in Shahran on the northern edge of Tehran earlier in June. The facility can be geolocated using the two large pylons visible both in the video and on Google Earth. Furthermore, given the nature of the strike using 13,000-kilogram (30,000-pound) GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs, which are designed to penetrate up to 18 meters into concrete or 61 meters into normal earth before exploding on a delayed fuse, it is unlikely that a major explosion such as those depicted in the videos would even have been visible, even if there was footage.

FACTLYWar & conflict

The video shows Iranian lawmakers burning the U.S. flag inside Parliament and threatening to use a nuclear bomb against the U.S. amid the June 2025 Israel-Iran conflict.

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The video is from 9 May 2018, not the June 2025 Israel-Iran conflict. It shows lawmakers burning a placard resembling the U.S. flag in protest after the U.S. withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal; the review says no credible report mentioned a threat to use a nuclear bomb against the U.S.