An image shared on Facebook claims to show an explosion at the Pentagon on the morning of May 22.

Verdict: False

There is no evidence of an explosion. A Pentagon spokesperson told Check Your Fact there were no incidents reported.

Fact Check:

Social media users began sharing an image of an alleged explosion at the Pentagon. One iteration on Twitter received over 180 retweets and 200,000 impressions.

However, there is no evidence of any such explosion. If there was an explosion, media outlets would have covered it, yet none have. The Pentagon’s official Twitter account did not report any explosion this morning.

A Pentagon spokesperson told Check Your Fact in an email that the “Pentagon Force Protection Agency reports no incidents this morning.” The Arlington County Fire Department also debunked the claim on Twitter. (RELATED: Did The Leaked Pentagon Documents Show Ukraine Suffered 71,000 Dead?)

@PFPAOfficial and the ACFD are aware of a social media report circulating online about an explosion near the Pentagon. There is NO explosion or incident taking place at or near the Pentagon reservation, and there is no immediate danger or hazards to the public. pic.twitter.com/uznY0s7deL

— Arlington Fire & EMS (@ArlingtonVaFD) May 22, 2023

“@PFPAOfficial and the ACFD are aware of a social media report circulating online about an explosion near the Pentagon. There is NO explosion or incident taking place at or near the Pentagon reservation, and there is no immediate danger or hazards to the public,” the department stated on Twitter.

Nick Waters, an open source analyst at the investigative outlet Bellingcat, tweeted that he was confident the image was generated by artificial intelligence.

Confident that this picture claiming to show an “explosion near the pentagon” is AI generated.

Check out the frontage of the building, and the way the fence melds into the crowd barriers. There’s also no other images, videos or people posting as first hand witnesses. pic.twitter.com/t1YKQabuNL

— Nick Waters (@N_Waters89) May 22, 2023

“Confident that this picture claiming to show an “explosion near the pentagon” is AI generated. Check out the frontage of the building, and the way the fence melds into the crowd barriers. There’s also no other images, videos or people posting as first hand witnesses,” Waters tweeted.

The claim was spread on Twitter by Russia Today and other accounts, according to Business Insider. Russia Today alter deleted its tweet about the alleged explosion, the outlet reported.