Washington, DC – US President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video on the Truth Social platform depicting the bombing and destruction of Iran’s strategically important Kharg Island. The video, created from an aerial perspective resembling a plane view, shows a massive oil storage tank and an oil tanker exploding amidst widespread devastation. Trump captioned the post with the brief statement: “Kharg Island Blown to Bricks!!! President DJT.”
Kharg Island is a strategically vital location, handling the vast majority of Iran’s oil exports before the conflict. This made it a key component of Iran’s economic and energy infrastructure. Reuters, however, confirmed that the footage depicting the massive explosion was clearly fabricated and manipulated using artificial intelligence-based image detection software.
In response, Iranian authorities were quick to refute these claims outright. Hamid Boufard, CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company, announced on Monday that oil operations and development projects on Kharg Island were proceeding normally and without any interruption. He stated, “None of the ongoing work on Kharg has stopped, and operational activities and development projects in the area are continuing completely as normal.” Boufard described the recent social media posts by the US president as “absurd.” He emphasized that the operational situation on the island was entirely calm and stressed the failure of attempts at media and psychological pressure to disrupt the country’s oil export operations.
