Fact Check: Iran shoots down US B-2 stealth bomber? No, visuals are AI-generated

Hyderabad: In a major escalation to the conflict between Israel and Iran, US president Donald Trump, on June 21, confirmed that the US forces struck three Iranian nuclear sites.

Including a US B-2 bomber, more than 125 US aircraft were involved in carrying out the strikes, stated the officials.

In this context, a video showing three clips of crashed aircraft is going viral on social media with the claim that it shows the B-2 bomber shot down by Iran.

Sharing the video on X, a user wrote, “Breaking news! Big news! Iran shoots down a US B-2 stealth bomber! Worldwide commotion! Unprecedented increase in tension in the region. Iranian defence system destroyed America’s latest war technology, which is a big blow to America in history. Iran had already said that if you attack with caution, you will not be able to compensate for the losses.” (Translated from Hindi) (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video shows AI-generated visuals.

Seven US B-2 Spirit stealth bombers were used to carry out precision strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Dubbed as Operation Midnight Hammer, these strikes marked the largest-ever B-2 mission in US military history.

IndiaTV published a report on June 23 stating that all seven B-2 aircraft have safely returned to their home base at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

Quoting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, the report stated, “The mission involved bombing three key nuclear facilities, Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. The B-2s were armed with GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs), bunker-busting bombs designed to target deeply buried infrastructure.”

The viral video is made up of three different video clips.

Using reverse image search, we found that the viral video was uploaded as YouTube Shorts on June 20 with the title ‘An Israeli F-35 fighter jet was shot down in Iran.’ (Translated from Arabic) This YouTube video is a better-quality version of the viral video. A comparison of the viral video and the YouTube video can be seen here.

Using reverse image search, we found the extended and uncropped version of one of the clips uploaded to YouTube on June 16 with the caption, “Stealth Bomber Crashes in the Desert | Shocking Aerial Footage!” (Archive)

A comparison of the viral video and the YouTube video can be seen here.

We also found the screenshots of two uncropped versions of the viral video uploaded to Threads on June 15 with the caption, “Iran Defence Successful.....?” (Archive)

A comparison of the viral post and the Threads post can be seen here.

Going by the date of their publication, the videos and images seem to have been shared before the US strikes on Iran on June 21, proving that they don’t show B-2 aircraft being downed.

Signs of generation of details using AI

We tested the video collected evidence to see if the clips are generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The aforementioned YouTube video, uploaded on June 16, shows several indications of AI-generated visuals, such as parts of aircraft blending into the debris lying around, inconsistencies in the body of the aircraft and distorted human figures blending into each other as they walk.

We used a screenshot of the YouTube video to determine whether the viral video contains AI-generated content. Sight Engine, an AI determination tool, gave the results: uncertain if AI-generated or not. However, it also stated the image is 47 per cent likely to contain AI-generated content.

However, we also tested a screenshot from a video clip from the YouTube video uploaded on June 20, and Sight Engine determined that the visuals are 87 per cent likely to be AI-generated.

We also took another image from the viral Threads post and analysed it using Sight Engine. The tool determined that the image is 97 per cent likely to contain AI-generated content.

Therefore, NewsMeter concludes that the viral claim is false. The visuals in all three clips are AI-generated.