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To check a breaking-news claim about Iran or the United States, separate the event from claims about who caused it, where it happened, casualties, and intent. Trace each claim to its earliest available source, look for independent corroboration, and verify any accompanying image or video on its own. Until those checks support it, treat a post as a lead—not confirmation.
What exactly is the post claiming?
Write down the claim in specific parts before deciding whether it is true. A post can combine several propositions that need different evidence: that an event happened, that it occurred at a particular place and time, that a named party caused it, and that a particular number of people were harmed.
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For example, evidence that a blast occurred does not, by itself, establish who caused it. A government statement may establish what that government says happened, but the statement alone does not independently prove the underlying event or attribution. Keep each proposition separate as you check it.
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How can you check the source and corroboration?
- Trace the claim to its earliest available source. Look for the original statement, document, image, video, or uploader rather than relying on a repost. Check who is behind the account and whether it is actually affiliated with the institution or news organization it appears to represent. A news-like name or platform badge is not proof of authority.
- Compare reports for independence. Look for confirmation from multiple reliable sources that have reached the information independently. Several outlets repeating the same initial post are not several independent confirmations. The Associated Press describes checking facts against multiple independent, reliable sources, including documents and on-the-record sources.
- Separate firsthand evidence from attribution. Note whether a source directly observed or documented something, or is reporting what a government, military, witness, or other party asserts. Attribute statements to the party making them until other evidence supports the claim.
- Keep an uncertainty ledger. Record what is verified, what is attributed, what is disputed, and what remains unknown. Update it when new evidence appears; do not turn an early official statement or an unverified eyewitness post into an established fact.
When sources disagree, compare how close each is to the original evidence, whether it is independent of other reports, whether it distinguishes fact from a party’s claim, and whether it is transparent about uncertainty and corrections. A source that explains what it knows—and what it does not know—gives you more to assess than one that presents every detail as settled.
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How can you tell whether a photo or video is old or miscaptioned?
Check the visual material separately from the event claim. A genuine video can be old, filmed somewhere else, or paired with a false account of what caused the scene. Conversely, a search that finds no earlier copy does not prove that the clip is new or authentic.
Search for earlier appearances
Take a clear, representative frame or screenshot and reverse-search it using more than one image-search service where available. An earlier result may reveal the original publication date, a different location, or a caption unrelated to the current claim. AP, PolitiFact, and the UK House of Commons Library describe reverse-image search as a verification technique.
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Check the location and context
Compare visible landmarks, buildings, road layouts, signs, language, landscape, and weather with the claimed place. Such clues can contradict a caption or support a location, but matching a place does not establish when the footage was recorded or who caused the event.
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Look at the video frame by frame for abrupt edits, inconsistent details, or physical clues that do not fit the scene. Check whether the audio appears to belong to the footage, and try to identify the original uploader or filmer. AP’s description of its user-generated-content verification process includes frame-by-frame checks and, when possible, contacting the original filmer.
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These checks can uncover recycled, unrelated, or manipulated material. They cannot guarantee that every newly posted clip will be searchable or that every misleading detail will be visible.
Can you trust an official-looking account, badge, or AI detector?
None of these is decisive on its own. Confirm an account’s identity, institutional affiliation, and track record rather than relying on its name or badge. PolitiFact’s guidance on Iran-war claims specifically warns that a news-like account or badge may not indicate affiliation with an official body or credible organization.
AI-detection results and apparent visual tells are clues to investigate, not verdicts. Iran-related reporting has documented recycled and unrelated footage as well as AI-generated images and video. Provenance—where material came from and how it was handled—and independent corroboration matter more than a detector result by itself.
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What do Iran–U.S. examples show?
PolitiFact’s June 2025 explainer examined misleading imagery circulating after U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear sites and showed how reverse search can reveal earlier publication and context. An Associated Press fact-check from March 2026 documented recycled material falsely presented as current Iran-war footage, including a compilation unrelated to the attacks it was said to show. These are dated examples, not evidence about what is happening now. They illustrate why a dramatic clip must be verified separately from the event claim attached to it.
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Where should you look first?
A Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism figure in the Digital News Report 2025 found that, when checking information, 38% of respondents said they would first look to trusted news outlets, 35% to official sources, 25% to fact-checkers, and 14% to social media. These are reported survey responses about where people would look first—not measurements of source accuracy or proof that any specific report is true.
Use those source types as starting points, not substitutes for checking the underlying evidence. An official source can clarify what a government asserts; a news outlet or fact-checker may add independent reporting or document checks. Assess what each source actually supports, and whether multiple accounts rely on the same original material.
What tools are available to the public?
Many of the checks above—tracing a post, searching a frame, comparing visible details, and checking independent reports—can be done with ordinary web searches and careful observation. AP describes AP Verify as a web-based verification dashboard with tools including reverse-image search, video analysis, social listening, geolocation, landmark detection, and transcription. AP’s announcement does not establish consumer access or pricing, so do not assume that dashboard is available to the public.
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