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.
In the early hours of 22 June 2025, the United States carried out attacks on three nuclear sites in Iran under Operation Midnight Hammer (here, here, here, here, and here). Seven B-2 bombers, along with submarine-launched missiles, targeted Iran’s key nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, causing extensive damage to underground enrichment structures. The US described the action as a pre-emptive measure aimed at degrading Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
In this context, a video showing a crowd protesting on the streets has gone viral on social media, with the claim that it shows Americans protesting against the US attacks on (here, here, here, here, and here). Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video shows Americans protesting against the US attack on nuclear facilities in Iran.
Fact: This video is not related to the protests against the US attacks on Iran. It is actually from the ‘No Kings’ protest held in San Diego on 14 June 2025, which was organised in opposition to President Trump’s Army Day parade and various policies of his administration. While protests did occur in several countries, including the United States, against the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities on 22 June 2025, this particular video is unrelated to those demonstrations. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
To verify the details of the viral video, we conducted a Google reverse image search using key frames from the footage. This search led us to an Instagram post, shared on 15 June 2025, which featured visuals similar to those in the viral video. According to the description in the post, the video shows the ‘No Kings’ protest that took place in San Diego on 14 June 2025, opposing the Trump administration in the United States. The post further stated that around 80,000 people participated in this protest and that similar demonstrations occurred across the country. From this, it is clear that the viral video does not depict protests against the US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities on 22 June 2025, as the protest shown predates the US strikes.
Taking this as a cue, we then performed a relevant keyword search on Google, which led us to multiple news reports (here, here, & here) about the ‘No Kings’ protests that occurred across the US on 14 June.
According to these reports, large-scale protests under the banner ‘No Kings’ were held in San Diego and other parts of the United States on 14 June 2025. These protests were organised by several activist groups, including Indivisible and the 50501 movement (50 states, 50 protests, 1 movement), in response to the Army Day parade conducted by Trump in Washington D.C. on his 79th birthday. The protests aimed to challenge what was perceived as authoritarianism and corruption within the administration — sentiments that were further inflamed by Trump’s reaction to recent peaceful protests in Los Angeles. Several American media outlets (here & here) also broadcast visuals from the ‘No Kings’ protest in San Diego, showing scenes identical to those in the viral video. From all this, it is evident that the viral video shows the ‘No Kings’ march held in San Diego on 14 June 2025.
However, several media organisations (here, here, here & here) have also reported that protests were indeed held in various countries, including the United States, opposing the US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
To sum it up, a video of the ‘No Kings’ march held in San Diego on 14 June 2025 is being misrepresented as footage of Americans protesting against the US attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.
