On 13 June 2025, Israel launched attacks on more than a dozen targets across Iran under the codename Operation Rising Lion, with the stated objective of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Israel reportedly damaged key nuclear facilities and military installations, killing several of Iran’s top military leaders. In retaliation, Iran launched a series of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel under the name Operation True Promise 3.
The United States escalated its involvement by launching direct strikes on Iran under Operation Midnight Hammer. On the night of 21–22 June 2025, seven B-2 bombers and submarine-launched missiles targeted Iran’s key nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, severely damaging underground enrichment facilities. The U.S. described the attack as a pre-emptive move to degrade Iran’s nuclear capabilities, while Iran condemned it as an act of war and vowed retaliation.
Amid these developments, a video is going viral on social media showing a large missile-like structure being transported, with claims that it is a nuclear weapon, some posts allege that Israel is preparing to use it against Iran (here, here and here), while others claim it is Iran preparing against Israel (here and here ). Let’s find out the truth behind this claim.
Claim: The video shows a nuclear weapon being transported amid the ongoing Iran–Israel conflict.
Fact: The video actually shows a SpaceX rocket (Starship 36) being transported in Texas. It is unrelated to any military activity or the Iran–Israel conflict. Hence the claim is FALSE.
To find the truth, we closely watched the video. At the top of the frame, we can see a police vehicle escorting and clearing the path for the object being transported. The word “Sheriff” is written on the vehicle — a title used for law enforcement officials in U.S. counties. This gives a strong clue that the video is from the United States, not from Israel or Iran.
We performed a reverse image search on Google, which led us to the same video posted by an account named SpaceX en Français on 16 June 2025. The caption stated that Starship 36 was being transported to the launch pad ahead of test number 10.
Further research led us to the NASA Spaceflight YouTube channel, which livestreamed a video on 15 June titled “Starship 36 Rolls to Masseys for Testing Ahead of Starship Flight 10.” The video shows the same Starship 36, with visuals that match the viral clip.
During our research, we found that several news agencies reported on SpaceX’s test of Starship 36, which ended in failure (here and here). According to the reports, on 18 June 2025, SpaceX’s Starship upper stage (Ship 36) exploded during a test at the Starbase site in South Texas, just before a planned static-fire. The explosion, which occurred ahead of the rocket’s 10th flight, caused a massive fireball but no injuries. SpaceX confirmed the incident and is coordinating with officials to secure the site.
A comparison between the equipment seen in the viral video and SpaceX’s Starship 36 confirms that both are the same.
Additionally, we found several posts and reports from 2024 showing similar visuals of space rockets being transported on roads in Texas (here and here). While we couldn’t independently verify whether the viral video is recent or from a past event, it can be ascertained that the footage does not show a nuclear weapon from Israel or Iran.
To sum up, a video of a SpaceX rocket being transported in Texas is shared as a nuclear weapon being moved amid the Iran–Israel conflict.
