President Trump on Sunday evening shared an AI-generated video purporting to show Iran’s key oil export terminal on Kharg Island being “blown to smithereens,” posting the clip just hours after the first US airstrikes on the Islamic Republic since July.
Trump, 80, did not indicate on Truth Social that the 10-second video was created with artificial intelligence. As of Monday morning, there was no evidence that Kharg Island, located off Iran’s coast, had been struck.
“Trump’s tweets are laughable and conditions in Kharg are calm and appropriate,” Hamid Bovard, chief executive of the state-run National Iranian Oil Co., told the semi-official Iranian outlet Nournews. He said operations were continuing and that crews were working to repair earlier damage.
The post came after US Central Command said earlier Sunday that American forces had targeted rocket launchers on Iran’s Larak Island, roughly 400 miles east of Kharg. Iran later fired missiles at US sites in Jordan, but the projectiles were intercepted.
In a separate development, the United Arab Emirates Defense Ministry said its military had “dealt with” an Iranian drone detected over UAE waters. No damage was reported.
The ministry later issued a second statement denying a claim by the Iranian army that the Al Minhad Air Base in Dubai had been targeted, saying it was false.