A VIDEO SHOWING caskets draped in the flag of the United States being taken off a military plane has been shared widely online along with descriptions falsely indicating that it shows casualties from the conflict with Iran.

The video has been online since 2011 and is described as showing the bodies of four US soldiers being returned from Iraq.

However, since 1 March, on posts across X, Instagram and Facebook, there is an implication the footage is new.

Many of these feature a message that reads: “560 Americans died for Israel in the last 48 hours. #IranWar”, with minor variations, such as additional hashtags.

One such post on X has been viewed more than 369,000 times, while versions on Facebook have been shared hundreds of times.

The message that 560 Americans had died in Iran is not backed up; the known death toll of American troops in the conflict currently stands at six.

However, there is a delay on how the US military announces casualties, and this number cannot be independently confirmed or debunked.

The footage showing the caskets being taken from the plane, however, can be debunked. It is not from the current conflict with Iran.

“The ‘Dignified Transfer’ return home of four heroes from Operation New Dawn,” begins the description of a video posted to YouTube in June 2011, uploaded by a veteran military photographer.

Many old videos have been repurposed to spread misinformation about the conflict with Iran, often to bolster support for one side or the other, or to push other agendas.

In some cases, social media users spread shocking misinformation simply to generate clicks and promote their own accounts.

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