Old Image of Iran’s Military Drill Shared as Yemen’s Recent Attack on US Warship

This photo dates back to 2015 and shows Iran's attack on a replica of a US ship as a part of their military drills.

Fact-Check: This image shows Iran's attack on a US replica ship during their military drills in 2015. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

An image of a huge ship on fire is being shared to claim that it shows the United States of America's (USA) warship which was attacked by Yemen, recently.

• This comes after the US and British launched military attacks on areas by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)

Is this true?: The claim is false.

• This image is from 2015 and shows Iran's replica of the US aircraft that was blasted during their Great Prophet 9 naval exercise in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

How did we find out?: We ran a Google and Yandex reverse image search on the image and came across multiple news reports from 2015 which contained the same image as the viral one.

• According to Cable News Network (CNN) and Business Insider, Iran attacked a mock-up US aircraft carrier with speedboats and missiles during their naval exercises in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz on 25 February 2015.

• CNN noted that Iran built the replica in 2014 and called this part of their naval exercise “the most important concern of the Americans.”

Here is a preview of the CNN report containing the image of the vessel. 

(Source: CNN/Screenshot) 

• Further, we found the image of the ship in the Associated Press' (AP) photo archives through the Business Insider's report.

• AP mentioned that the US carrier was attacked by Iran using speedboats belonging to the Revolutionary Guard during extensive naval exercises near the Persian Gulf's entrance.

• The drill, known as Great Prophet 9, marked the debut of a mock-up of a US carrier.

• Here is a comparison between the two images.

Here is a comparison between the two images. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

What's happening between Yemen and the USA?: This claim comes at a time when USA and the United Kingdom launched strikes in an overnight attack on Thursday, 11 January.

• The attack was targeted at the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.

• President Joe Biden said he ordered the strikes “in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea.”

• Since the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza, Houthi rebels have been targeting and attacking commercial ships on the trading route of the Red Sea.

Conclusion: Clearly, an old image of a ship is being shared to falsely claim that Yemen attacked a US warship recently.

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