Viral video claiming to show massive blasts at U.S. military base in Qatar is AI-generated
The footage looked cinematic, and some versions of it bore the logo of OpenAI's video generator
CLAIM
Video footage showing a huge blast and mushroom-type cloud rising over a built-up area at night was shared on social media claiming to show Iranian strikes aimed at Qatar.
BACKGROUND
Video footage shared thousands of times through various X accounts appeared to show a massive explosion amid a built-up area at nighttime and was described as showing Iranian strikes on Qatar late on Monday.
Iran fired a salvo of missiles at a U.S. military base in Qatar on Monday evening in retaliation against U.S. strikes on its nuclear sites at the weekend. Iran launched the attack on the Al-Udeid military base — the U.S. largest military base in the Middle East with around 10,000 service members.
The strikes came after so-called “bunker buster” bombs were dropped on Fordo — which is home to an underground nuclear facility. The strikes came after both the U.S. and Israel claimed that Iran is only weeks away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. However, according to a report by the UN atomic agency (IAEA), no evidence was found of an “active systematic plan to build a nuclear weapon,” the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has said.
The video was shared on several X accounts with thousands of reshares and millions of views (one version archived here). The captions claimed the video showed the attack on the military base in Qatar.
METHOD
A number of clues suggested that this video was AI-generated. For one, several comments under the video indicated that it was produced by AI and some of the versions shared had a logo in the bottom right that resembles the symbol for OpenAI’s video generator, Sora.
The footage also looks too high-quality with an almost cinematic appearance, and at only 8-10 seconds, it is the typical short length of an AI-generated video.
Al-Udeid military base is located outside the periphery of Doha and the sea of lights appears inconsistent with what is really near that location.
Finally, Doha-based Al Jazeera reported that the Qatari ministry of defence said there had been no deaths or injuries and “its air defence systems successfully intercepted missiles targeting Al Udeid Air Base”.
RATING
The video was generated by AI and does not show an explosion at the U.S. military base in Qatar.
SOURCES
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: Iran strikes US military base in Qatar. [Accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: “BREAKING: Iran strikes US military base in Qatar. #Iran #USA #MiddleEastCrisis“ [Accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: Iran attacks US airbase in Qatar with ballistic missiles [Accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
Al Jazeera. (2025). Tehran attacks US base in Qatar, hours later Trump states Israel-Iran truce. [online] [Accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
CNBC. (2025). Iran attacks U.S. military base in Qatar with missiles [online] [Accessed 24 Jun. 2025].