Middle East Crisis

Situation in Iran
Trump Claims Khamenei is Dead: “I Heard”

Donald Trump said in an interview with NBC News that Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new Supreme Leader, may be dead.

– “I don’t even know if he’s still alive. So far, nobody has been able to show him. I heard he’s dead,” the president said.

Trump’s information comes after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth said Mojtaba Khamenei was critically wounded in an attack on Iran the previous day. 

Reactions
Platforms are flooded with AI-generated war footage.

Videos showing never-before-seen explosions and non-existent crying soldiers are circulating rapidly online, the New York Times reported.

The newspaper compiled 110 unique AI-generated clips related to the war in Iran. These include fake footage of an explosion in Tel Aviv, Iranians mourning their deceased relatives, and an attack on an American warship. These images have garnered millions of views across platforms such as X, TikTok, and Facebook.

Mark Owen Jones, associate professor of media analytics at Northwestern University in Qatar, said that AI-generated images of the damage in the Persian Gulf have become part of Iran's war effort.

“It allows them to demonstrate that this war is more damaging and costly than it should be for America’s allies.”