As the media war intensified and regional tensions escalated, false pictures spread claiming to be from US-Iranian negotiations in Pakistan, but they quickly became clear that they were baseless.
During the past few hours, a picture has spread on social media that allegedly shows the Speaker of the Iranian Shura Council, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, being searched by members of the US Marines before entering a negotiating hall with the United States in Pakistan, a scene that sparked widespread controversy on the Internet.
The publications accompanying the photo claimed that CNN had published this photo, but checking it through the archives of international news agencies and press photo databases did not reveal any presence of it in reliable news sources. Also, no report was found published on the network or its official platforms covering a similar incident.
It turned out that the logo attributed to “CNN” was added to the image manually in a primitive way with the aim of giving false credibility. No documented incident has been recorded showing the search of “Qalibaf” by American forces, whether inside or outside Pakistan.
A technical review revealed that the image was created using artificial intelligence techniques, and falls within what is known as “visual disinformation,” which is used to create political confusion in light of the current tensions.
In parallel, another photo spread that allegedly showed Pakistani officials being searched by US soldiers as they headed to peace talks with Iran, but scrutiny revealed similar indications that it was an AI-generated image, with no reliable reports confirming that such an action had taken place.
According to what Yahoo News reported, these allegations contradict diplomatic norms, as there are no documented precedents for officials being searched in this way during their participation in official negotiations. A number of visual indicators in the images, such as distorted features of people and details of aircraft and equipment, reinforce doubts about their authenticity.
These data indicate that the images circulating do not reflect a real event, but rather represent an example of misleading content that is exploited to amplify political debates and raise doubts about the nature of the relations between the parties involved.
This incident comes in the context of the escalation of the use of fabricated content through artificial intelligence techniques in political conflicts, as images and videos have become a major tool in the media war, especially in light of sensitive regional crises.
