Fake AI Photo of F-15 Crew Rescue in Iran Spreads Across Social Media

A digitally fabricated photograph claiming to show the rescue of an American airman pulled from Iranian territory over Easter weekend drew widespread views online before platform users and fact-checkers identified it as artificial intelligence. Several prominent Republican officials were among those who shared the image as real.

The picture first appeared April 5, hours after President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that U.S. special forces had extracted the second of two F-15E Strike Eagle crew members shot down deep inside Iran during Operation Epic Fury.

Officials Share the Fake AI Image

The image showed a smiling man in combat fatigues clutching an American flag, surrounded by troops inside what appeared to be the cabin of a military aircraft. A pro-Trump account on X originally posted it with Easter messaging referring to an "honorable Colonel."

Within hours the picture had been reshared by several elected officials. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott reposted it with the comment "this is so awesome." 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton shared the same image and framed the timing as a divine message delivered between Good Friday and Easter morning.

New York Rep. Mike Lawler added the caption "God Bless America!" before later removing the post. Abbott and Paxton also deleted their shares after platform users attached a community note identifying the photograph as likely generated by AI. At least one version of the post carried a "Made with AI" label applied by X.

A separate post by a Philadelphia television meteorologist drew more than 791,000 views before being flagged. A second fabricated rescue scene, shared by a conservative online commentator the same day, was also traced to AI tools. 

The Military Has Not Released Detailed Information

U.S. Central Command has not made public any photographs or the names of the two airmen involved in the April 3 rescues. Combat search-and-rescue missions typically remain tightly held for weeks or months to protect aircrew identities, unit affiliations and operational methods.

The downed F-15E was the first manned American aircraft brought down by hostile fire since Epic Fury began Feb. 28, Trump said during a White House news conference April 6. The pilot was recovered the day of the shootdown during a mission involving 21 aircraft. 

The weapons systems officer evaded Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ground forces for nearly two days before rescue forces reached him during a second operation using 155 aircraft and decoy tactics, according to a Department of Defense statement.

"In the U.S. military, we leave no American behind," Trump said.

Researchers who examined the image shared on social media pointed to several signs of synthetic origin. V.S. Subrahmanian, a Northwestern University computer science professor, and postdoctoral researcher Marco Postiglione noted a flag shoulder patch placed at an unusual angle and on the wrong side of the uniform.

Other signs included an apparent extra finger on the airman's hand, a blurred background and flag stripes that did not fold naturally. Others pointed out strange looking details from an unidentifiable helmet, identical watches on the troops to clothing and random items in the image that did not appear to be official military gear or equipment.

The AI-detection service Hive Moderation estimated the picture had roughly a 99.9 percent likelihood of containing synthetic content. The second fabricated rescue scene was traced to the open-source image model Stable Diffusion XL.

Abbott has been caught amplifying fake Iran war content before. Last month he reposted what he believed was footage of a U.S. warship downing an Iranian aircraft. The clip turned out to be gameplay captured from the combat game War Thunder.

Synthetic content has been used by both sides during Epic Fury. With few real photographs and videos to use, several outlets and individuals have turned to fabricated images to repeatedly fill the void.

Pro-American accounts have pushed fabricated scenes of battlefield successes, while Iran-aligned channels have circulated manipulated clips meant to exaggerate regime military gains. Because a convincing fake attaches itself to a real, fast-moving story, it can reach mass audiences well before any verification from military sources catches up.