“iPhone phones float in the Strait of Hormuz after a cargo ship sinks.” What is the authenticity of the popular video?

A video clip spread on social media, amid allegations that it showed scenes of the moment people found goods, including iPhones, after a cargo ship was involved in an accident in the Strait of Hormuz. The video received millions of views on many social platforms, due to its popularity through publications in different languages, including Arabic, English, and Persian.

Posts claimed that the footage “shows iPhones floating in the Strait of Hormuz after Iran sank a Singaporean cargo ship.” When analyzing a video visually, indicators that it is fake may be observed, such as physical or illogical inconsistencies.

Among these indicators is the appearance of people's hands while carrying boxes with an abnormal or illogical number of fingers with the objects. In addition to background scenes (such as a stranded ship or containers), you may find that horizon lines are not straight, or ship details are overlapping or shifting in shape in a way that does not obey the laws of true visual perspective. And the direction of shadows varies compared to light sources (such as a cloudy sky).

The results of examining the video through the Hive Moderation tool, which examines content generated by artificial intelligence, showed that the clip was 99.9% produced by artificial intelligence. The circulation of the video coincided with attacks that targeted several ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, with the faltering negotiations between the United States and Iran, and the continued American blockade of its ports.

The container ship "GFS Pride", flying the Singapore flag, sank while crossing the vital shipping lane, after it was damaged and a fire broke out on board before it sank, according to a statement by the Maritime and Ports Authority of Singapore last Wednesday.