Inspecting video said to show Iranian mourners calling for revenge over strikes that killed Khamenei

The U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, by hitting various locations in the country with airstrikes, including one that killed the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Since then, Iran has named his son Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader.

The attacks that began the war came as a surprise to people in the U.S., including those in Congress. The apparent suddenness of the attack, plus conflicting information from officials in President Donald Trump's administration, prompted many social media users to try to fill in the gaps of information. This led to a flurry of rumors and claims, some of which were false or unproven.

Some of these claims came in the forms of fake images or purported quotes. A few claims focused on reactions by world leaders in either country, while many centered on the violence itself. Yet other claims were about victims of the war. 

Here are 16 of the claims about the U.S.-Israel war on Iran we've investigated during its first two weeks: