US President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video clip claiming Iran's oil hub Kharg Island was being “blown to smithereens”, a claim an Iranian official dismissed as “laughable”, hours after the two countries resumed hostilities for the first time since July.
Several hours after Trump's post, there was no evidence that Kharg Island had been attacked.
The White House and the US Defence Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside regular business hours.
“Trump's tweets are laughable and conditions in Kharg are calm and appropriate,” said Hamid Bovard, chief executive of the government-run National Iranian Oil Co.
Oil operations had not stopped and workers were busy repairing previous damage and modernising facilities, he added in comments published by Nournews, a semi-official outlet close to Iran's top security body.
“Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, without providing further details.
Reuters confirmed that the accompanying video, which showed dramatic explosions, was most likely synthetically generated using software that detects AI-manipulated imagery.
Kharg handled 90% of Iran's oil exports before the war launched by US and Israeli attacks on February 28. An attack on the island would severely disrupt Iran's energy trade and put significant pressure on its economy.
Iran was not seeking war but would respond decisively to any aggression, President Masoud Pezeshkian said.
“We will never remain silent in the face of any aggression and will respond decisively to the aggressors,” state media quoted him as saying on Monday ahead of a visit to Kyrgyzstan.
It was unclear whether Pezeshkian was speaking before or after Trump's post about Kharg Island.
Iran responded to an earlier US attack on rocket launchers on Larak Island, about 660 km (410 miles) east of Kharg, by attacking two US bases in Jordan, Iranian media reported. The Iranian army also said it had struck the UAE's Al Minhad air base early Monday.
In a statement, however, the UAE Defence Ministry dismissed reports that the air base had been attacked as false.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the strikes in Jordan targeted US bases used to launch and support the attack on Larak.
Iran's army said its drone attack on the UAE air base targeted sites where US forces and helicopters were stationed, in response to casualties from the Larak strike.
The Revolutionary Guards used air defence missiles to shoot down a US drone that crashed in Gulf waters, the Mehr news agency reported Monday, citing a statement from the elite force.
A supertanker caught fire and was brought to a complete halt after being struck by two naval mines in the southern Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state television reported, citing a Revolutionary Guards statement.
The Guards said the supertanker had been attempting to pass through the waterway illegally, but gave no details about the vessel or its crew.
It warned that other ships violating its mandatory regulations for transiting the strait could face the same fate.
Sunday's return to hostilities followed weeks in which the Trump administration stepped up efforts to punish Tehran and its business partners through costly economic sanctions, shifting away from military options.