Trump's AI Video on Kharg Island: Reuters Says Likely Fake, Iran Calls It 'Laughable'

US President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday night, 8 Shahrivar 1405 (August 30, 2026), that Kharg Island, the hub of Iran's oil exports, had been "blown to smithereens," attaching a video showing explosions. According to Reuters, in a report carried by The Straits Times on Monday, 9 Shahrivar (August 31), Reuters used software that detects AI-manipulated imagery and found the clip was most likely synthetically generated. The White House and the US Defense Department did not respond to Reuters requests for comment outside regular business hours.

Hamid Bovard, chief executive of the National Iranian Oil Company, said in comments carried by the semi-official outlet Nournews that Trump's remarks were "laughable" and that conditions on Kharg Island were "calm and normal." He said oil operations had not stopped and that workers were repairing earlier damage and modernizing facilities. The same Reuters report said a supertanker caught fire and came to a complete halt after being struck by two naval mines in the southern Strait of Hormuz, according to a Revolutionary Guard statement carried by Iranian state television. Reuters also reported that the number of commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz fell to about five a day over the weekend.