On this day in conspiracies

In a taped Oval Office conversation later called the 'smoking gun,' Nixon instructs Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman to have the CIA tell the FBI to halt its investigation on false national-security grounds.

A clip claiming to show Iran striking a US aircraft carrier first appears online during the Iran-Israel fighting. Fact-checkers who later trace it find it consistent with the Arma 3 game engine rather than real footage. This clip becomes the seed that is recycled through 2026.

Entertainment outlets report the saga in force. The clips go viral, drawing millions of views, memes, and reaction videos, alongside a caption reported as It's an ALIEN!!!! Coverage frames the reaction as split between amusement, suspicion of a stunt, and some genuine concern.

Lead Stories, AFP, The Journal and Misbar debunk the Netanyahu image. OpenAI's verification tool reports it was made with the company's AI and carries a SynthID signal; the detector Hive rates it as effectively certain to be AI-generated. The tell is in the distorted club and national crests.