Claim: A video shows the US military buildup near Iran amid rising tensions between the two countries.
Fact: The clip is unrelated to the current military buildup, and the various scenes that form the montage appeared as early as 2016.
On 16 February, an X account posted a video (archive) purportedly showing the US military buildup in the Middle East amid ongoing tensions between the US and Iran. The description of the post reads:
“JUST IN: A new report reveals the MASSIVE scale of the US military buildup around Iran:
– 33% of the total US military force is stationed there!
– They withdrew their forces from around Russia and Taiwan and redeployed them to the region.
– Only 67% of their forces remain in the US.”
The US was building up its military assets in the Middle East ahead of another round of talks on the Iranian nuclear program, which were held in Geneva on 17 February.
The buildup was to pressure Tehran and have an option to strike inside the country in case talks between the two countries fail, CNN reported, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The indirect talks in Geneva concluded with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi saying afterward that the countries had an understanding on “guiding principles”. US officials cited by publications said there was progress, but gaps remained.
After the talks ended, Iran said it was preparing a draft proposal on the nuclear deal for the US ahead of the next round of talks on 26 February.
The first round of talks was held in Oman in early February and yielded no breakthrough.
US President Donald Trump has been suggesting the possibility of an attack on Iran for weeks, warning the country’s leaders that he would order an attack if it did not stop killing protesters or if it launched mass executions of demonstrators.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes and found that the video is not linked to the recent US military asset buildup in the Middle East. The montage consists of three sets of scenes from different instances, dating back to 2016.
The first two seconds of the clip circulating online
The first two seconds of the clip appeared as early as 2016. A YouTube channel “AiirSource Military” posted a video titled “Forty Warships Parade At Sea – RIMPAC 2016” on 31 July 2016. Scenes from 0:19 till 0:26 match the first two seconds of the video being fact-checked, confirming it is old, as shown below:
Left: Scenes from the clip circulating in February 2026. Right: Video posted on YouTube on 31 July 2016.
RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific Exercise) is the world’s largest international maritime exercise. 26 countries participated in 2016 and more than “40 ships and submarines, 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel” were part of the exercise.
Scenes of a helicopter flying with naval vessels seen in the background
Moments from 0:03 to 0:05 in the footage being fact-checked were recycled from a video that surfaced as early as 2016.
An article from 5 August 2016 on a website called Military.com, titled “Watch Awesome Aerial Footage of RIMPAC 2016”, carries a cover photo that matches the section of the video being fact-checked (0:03- 0:05).
Moreover, a reverse-search yielded a video on YouTube, titled “US Navy at RIMPAC 2016”, from 2 August 2016. The keyframe at 0:56 is an exact match of the video being fact-checked at 0:03, as shown in the comparative visual below:
Left: Scenes from the video being fact-checked. Right: A YouTube clip from 2016.
Last moments in the video
A Facebook user posted a video on 14 November 2017, with the following caption: [translated from Bulgarian via Google: “US aircraft carriers enter South Korean waters”]. From 0:19 to 0:25, the Facebook video matches the final moments of the clip being fact-checked.
A YouTube clip, titled “U.S. Navy Three Carrier Formation in Western Pacific Ocean”, uploaded on 12 November 2017 matches a scene from the video in the claim at the 2:25 mark, as shown below:
Left: Final moments from the video shared recently. Right: YouTube clip from November 2017.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, rates the claim as false.
Virality
The X post garnered 122,100 views and was liked 1,000 times.
It also appeared on X here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On Instagram an image from the video was included in a post here and here.
Users shared an image from the old video on Facebook here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The video does not show the ongoing buildup of US military assets in the Middle East. Various scenes from the montage in the claim surfaced online as early as 2016.
Background image in cover photo: Defense News
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com