Fact Check: Did the US release footage of a rescue mission aircraft damaged in Iran?

WASHINGTON, DC: After US and Iranian forces exchanged fire in the Strait of Hormuz amid a fragile ceasefire in May 2026, a video circulated on social media, claiming to show a damaged aircraft from a covert mission deployed to rescue stranded US pilots in Iran weeks earlier.

The clip quickly spread online as authentic war footage, prompting scrutiny over its origins. Let’s fact-check the claim.

Claim: A US Air Force aircraft was struck during an Iranian attack

A Weibo post published on May 11, 2026, shared a 16-second video claiming to show a damaged US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II, also known as the “Warthog.” The post described the aircraft as having a destroyed engine and asserted that it had been struck during an Iranian attack amid a US military rescue operation for a downed pilot.

"Guys, check out the latest video! A damaged US Air Force A-10 Warthog has been captured on camera. One of its engines was completely destroyed."

The video shows two brief scenes: one of the aircraft on a runway and another of it parked at an air base with personnel standing nearby. The accompanying caption claims the aircraft sustained damage during combat but still returned to base due to the A-10’s durability, even allegedly with one engine missing.

The posts circulated weeks into a fragile Middle East truce, following reports of exchanges of fire between the United States and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz on May 7, 2026.

The claim also references an earlier alleged incident in April, in which the United States reportedly carried out a high-risk operation to rescue two F-15 crew members after their aircraft was said to have been shot down on April 3.

The narrative states that multiple aircraft, including an A-10, were involved in the mission and that the pilot ejected over friendly territory after the aircraft was too damaged to land safely.

Fact Check: The 16-second clip showing US aircraft damage in Iran is fake

The clip was shared alongside similar claims in Chinese on X, Threads, Douyin, and RedNote, as well as in Arabic, English, and Spanish across multiple social media platforms. However, it is in fact AI-generated.

A keyword search on Douyin identified a higher-resolution version of the same video posted on May 10 by a user who regularly shares AI-generated content related to the Middle East conflict.

An analysis of the video using the Hive Moderation detection tool indicated that it is likely AI-generated, while Google’s SynthID detector suggested that the audio track was created using the company’s AI tools.

The 16-second clip also contains several visual inconsistencies that suggest it is fabricated. These include blurred and distorted runway numbers, a black decal on the aircraft’s tail disappearing between shots, and unnatural movement from a soldier whose arm appears to flap awkwardly as he walks toward the camera.

Reverse image searches of keyframes from the clip also uncovered earlier, unrelated images of similar aircraft damage. One match appeared on the blog Warthog News, which stated the photo was taken on April 8, 2003, after an A-10 was struck by a surface-to-air missile in Iraq. Similar imagery was also found on the Air Zoo aerospace museum’s Facebook page and in posts from the 110th Wing unit blog, which document A-10 operations during the early stages of the Iraq War.