WASHINGTON – Recycled images, video game footage passed off as missile strikes, and artificial intelligence-generated combat visuals: The US-Israeli assault on Iran has unleashed a torrent of online disinformation that analysts are calling a war of narratives.

Since US and Israeli strikes over the weekend ignited a regional conflict, a parallel information war has erupted, with supporters on both sides flooding social media with falsehoods that often spread faster than the facts on the ground.

AFP’s fact-checkers have debunked a series of claims by pro-Iranian accounts posting old videos to exaggerate the damage from Tehran’s missile strikes on Israel and Gulf states, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

“There is definitely a narrative war unfolding online,” Mr Moustafa Ayad, from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), told AFP.

“Whether it was to rationalise the strikes across the Gulf, or to trumpet Iranian military might in the face of the Israeli and US strikes, the goals seem to be wear down ‘enemies’.”

On the other end of the divide, Iranian opposition outlets have pushed false narratives on X and Telegram, blaming a missile strike on an Iranian girls’ school on the Iranian government itself, researchers said.

ISD also cautioned that fake social media accounts have sprung up impersonating senior Iranian leadership.

Meanwhile, video game clips repurposed as Iranian missile strikes and AI-generated images of US warships being sunk, including the USS Abraham Lincoln, have garnered millions of views across major platforms.

Similar disinformation tactics have also been reported in other global conflicts, including Ukraine and Gaza.

“It is really the speed and scale of these representations that are astounding, driving much of the online confusion of what has been targeted, or casualty counts, for instance,” said Mr Ayad.

Such fabricated visuals &nd...