The White House vowed a “very consequential response” to the drone attack.
As tensions between the US and the Middle East continue to grow, AI-generated pictures of President Joe Biden wearing military gear in the White House Situation Room went viral online. This came after a drone attack on a base in Jordan killed three American troops on Sunday, with President Biden blaming Iran-backed militants and vowing to hold the perpetrators to account. The casualties, the first US military deaths in an attack in the region since the Israel-Hamas war began, raised fears of an escalating conflict, as fighting rages in Gaza.
In an apparent attempt to demonstrate that the US was on a war footing, Mr Biden is seen in the pictures sitting at a desk with advisers while wearing a camouflage outfit. The pictures have been uploaded to X (formerly Twitter).
I also thought the photo of Joe was AI. It’s real.
I created my own versions in Midjourney to see how easily photos like these can be faked.
AI really nails the lost and despondent face that Joe often wears.
1/4 🧵 https://t.co/YAkMhbfImopic.twitter.com/PxUzD2YRCs
— Luke (@luke_brocks) January 30, 2024
As per X user Luke, the photos were created using Midjourney, a generative artificial intelligence program.
Meanwhile, the White House on Monday vowed a “very consequential response” to the drone attack. Washington’s response will be “very consequential,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN. “But we don’t seek a war with Iran. We’re not looking for a wider conflict in the Middle East,” he added.
Iran said it had nothing to do with the attack and denied US accusations that it supported militant groups responsible for the Sunday strike on the remote frontier base in Jordan’s northeast, near the borders with Iraq and Syria.
While Washington is still gathering the facts, “we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq,” Mr Biden said Sunday, pledging to hold “all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing.”
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani has rejected the accusations as “baseless,” adding that Tehran “is not involved in the decisions of the resistance groups.”
There has so far been no claim of responsibility for the strike, although on Sunday the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed to have launched three drone attacks at bases in Syria, including near the Jordanian border.
