AI-Generated Video Falsely Shared as One of Iranian Strike in Bahrain

The original video of the strike in Bahrain was taken during nighttime.

An AI-generated video is being shared with the false claim that it shows real visuals of an Iranian attack on Bahrain.

(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

A video showing fire and smoke billowing from a tall building, as people watch the skyscraper burn, is being widely shared on social media amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia.

The claim: The video is being shared to claim that it shows a high-rise in Bahrain which was struck by Iranian missiles.

• Among others, senior advocate at the Supreme Court of India Mahesh Jethmalani had also shared this video on his official X account.

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

At the time of writing this report, his post had gathered nearly 80,000 views.

(Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here, here, here, and here.)

Is it true?: No, the video is an AI-generated one and does not show authentic footage of a building in Bahrain.

How did we find out the truth?: We carried out a keyword search with the term 'Bahrain Iran missile strike' to check whether such a thing had happened.

• This led us to several news reports confirming that Iranian drones had struck a high rise in Bahrain, including this one by ABC News, which showed nighttime footage.

• Another report showing the impact of the strike was published by The Guardian, which had also shared a video taken at night.

The video in the claim, however, was taken during the day time.

• On observing it carefully, we noticed that most of the traffic on the road was moving towards the camera.

• The traffic signals in the video were also facing the camera, which would be an odd occurrence, because signals face the direction opposite to the flow of traffic.

Only one car appears togo in the other direction.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

Is it AI?: Since there were no credible sources sharing this video, we ran it through AI-generated content detectors.

• Hive Moderation's tool said there was a 99.9 percent likelihood of the video being an AI-generated one.

Hive noted that the video was probably made using OpenAI's Sora 2.

(Source: Hive Moderation/Screenshot)

• Undetectable's tool also gave the video a 96 percent chance of it being an AI-generated one.

It said that the video is likely an AI-generated one.

(Source: Undetectable/Screenshot)

Conclusion: An AI-generated video is being shared with the misleading claim that it shows the aftermath of an Iranian attack in Bahrain.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)