Trump posts an AI rendering of an Attack on Kharg Island – The nature of warfare changes over time, but the events of the last 24 hours — the president of the United States posting an AI-generated rendering of a specific attack at a specific location, leading to uncertainty about whether the attack actually occurred — had almost certainly never happened before now.
Amid the renewal of hostilities in the conflict between the U.S. and Iran on Sunday into Monday, which included the U.S. striking Iranian missile launchers on Larak Island, and Iran firing ballistic missiles at bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, Trump made the Truth Social post on Sunday night, depicting the fictitious destruction of the major Iranian oil export hub Kharg Island.
Donald Trump. Image Credit: Gage Skidmore.
President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks on the Administration’s tariff plans at a “Make America Healthy Again” event, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in the White House Rose Gardent. (Official White House Photo by Abe McNatt)
With the caption “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT,” the ten-second video consists of a view from the cockpit of a plane, as explosions ring out and ultimately engulf the energy facility.
While Truth Social does not include disclaimers that images and videos are AI-generated, the Kharg Island video is certainly the work of artificial intelligence. It’s currently unclear whether someone in the White House created the video, whether Trump appropriated it from someone outside the White House, or whether a Truth Social user initially posted it.
According to the Independent, Trump’s posting of the video led the Pentagon to deny that any such attack had taken place in real life.
“A U.S. official said no such attack had taken place, with Kharg Island not being among the locations targeted overnight in what has been the first exchange of fire between American and Iranian forces in weeks,” The Independent reported.
B-1B Lancer Bomber National Security Journal Photo.
Iran Responds
This put Iran in the position to deny that this AI-depicted attack had happened in real life.
“Trump’s tweets are laughable, and conditions in Kharg are calm and appropriate,” Hamid Bovard, chief executive of government-run National Iranian Oil Co., told the Iranian outlet Nournews, as cited by the New York Post.
So, while Kharg Island was not attacked, the post suggests it could have been.
What is Kharg Island?
Kharg Island is an island in the Persian Gulf that handles most of Iran’s outgoing oil exports.
Trump, on multiple occasions, has talked about attacking or possibly seizing the oil hub. The U.S. indeed bombed the island’s military sites in March, although it avoided striking the island’s oil and gas infrastructure.
The president had said, of that March attack, that the U.S. had “executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island.”
In early June, the Council on Foreign Relations reported that at the time, Trump had declared, “at some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets.”
Not long after, however, Trump called off the threat in favor of negotiations, which ultimately led to the ill-fated Memorandum of Understanding in mid-June.
In June, the BBC also looked at why Trump was threatening that specific location.
“The United States Military can take out Kharg Island at any time,” a White House official told the BBC in June.
The BBC analysis also stated that a U.S. attack on Kharg Island “is like going for Iran’s economic jugular vein,” in that it would cut off their oil lifeline.
What About the Oil?
While it would certainly hurt Iran if the U.S. were to bomb Kharg Island as the AI video presented it, it would also knock a massive amount of supply offline, and therefore strike a blow to global oil markets. And that’s before potential retaliation by Iran comes into play.
“It would probably send global oil prices soaring even higher and could lead to Iran targeting more energy infrastructure across the Middle East,” The BBC said in its June analysis.
Indeed, this week’s rekindling of the war has already sent oil prices northward, with Brent Crude trading at over $90 on Monday morning, up nearly 3 percent from the day before and 8.21 percent from a month earlier.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
