US governor boosts US-Iran 'combat footage' that is actually from War Thunder, featuring WW2-era weapons
Rock Paper Shotgun • • world
Key Points:
- A viral video purportedly showing a US battleship shooting down an Iranian fighter jet has been debunked as likely footage from the video game War Thunder, featuring World War II-era ordnance and aircraft.
- The clip, shared widely on social media and reposted by Texas Governor Greg Abbott before being deleted, was investigated by Agence France-Presse, which traced it to a Reddit thread and confirmed its origins through a statement from Gaijin Entertainment's PR head.
- No credible reports exist of an Iranian plane being shot down by a US warship, and the Pentagon has denied Iranian claims of striking the USS Abraham Lincoln with missiles.
- Military simulation videos are frequently mistaken or misused as real war footage, a problem exacerbated by advances in
