Does the Iranian military have kamikaze dolphins in its arsenal? According to the Wall Street Journal, Iranian officials reportedly considered using "mine-carrying dolphins" to attack US ships enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports. When questioned during a Pentagon briefing, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth denied any use of "kamikaze dolphins" by Iran. While the existence of such dolphins remains unproven, rumours continue to swirl on social media. According to several online users (see here and here), these alleged kamikaze dolphins are not cetaceans trained to attack enemy vessels, but rather drones secretly developed over the last 20 years. To support these claims, users are sharing two photographs purportedly showing two different drone models.
These photos allegedly showing kamikaze dolphins were posted on May 6, 2026. They have been generated by AI. © Facebook
One photo depicts a dark grey "dolphin drone" that closely resembles the real animal, manoeuvring near a warship. A second image shows a less realistic model, reportedly unveiled at an arms exhibition hosted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the ideological arm of Iran’s military. However, none of these images is authentic; they were generated by AI. Flag anomalies and ballistic missile naming errors The first photograph depicting a "dolphin drone" navigating alongside a naval vessel was created using Google's AI. When processed through SynthID – the artificial intelligence detection tool developed by Google – the analysis revealed an embedded watermark. This confirms the image was produced by Nano Banana, Google’s generative AI image model.
