Your weekly fact-checks
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#TrumpCheck
FactCheck.org
False: President Donald Trump claimed that Iran essentially shutting down the Strait of Hormuz “doesn’t really affect” the United States the way it does “other countries.”
A small share of U.S. oil imports indeed comes from the Persian Gulf. But the U.S. has been affected by the global increase in the price of oil. Since the waterway has been effectively closed – significantly reducing crude oil exports from the Persian Gulf region – oil prices have increased by double-digit percentages, which has contributed to a 50-cent-plus spike in the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S.
Snopes
True: In multiple speeches in March 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump said people were walking around "without legs" or "with no legs" due to roadside bombs.
In all three instances, Trump made such a statement, he appeared to be referring not to people in Iran, as some posts claimed, but to Americans injured or killed by roadside bombs in Iraq — a phenomenon Trump has blamed on militant training programs tied to the Iranian regime.
#Politics
Snopes
True: In late 2025, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in reference to the Republican Party and the nation: "We're killing all the right people, and we're cutting your taxes."
Graham said the above quote while expressing support for Israel's war in Gaza during remarks at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Summit. The quote resurfaced in March 2026 as the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.
Snopes
False: The Israeli government implemented a law in March 2026 that imposed a five-year prison sentence on anyone who posted videos of Tel Aviv to social media.
The claim that Israel passed a law imposing five-year prison sentences for posting videos of Tel Aviv on social media is false — no such legislation appears in Israel's official legal record, and no credible news outlets reported it. While Israel does have wartime censorship measures and an existing law punishing denial of the October 7th massacre with five years imprisonment, neither applies specifically to posting videos of Tel Aviv.
#Healthcare
Snopes
False: In March 2026, a newly resurfaced CIA document declassified after 60 years revealed a cure for cancer.
The document was not newly declassified in 2026, nor does it reveal a suppressed cure for cancer. The report has been publicly available for years and simply summarises a 1950 Soviet research paper, not a CIA discovery or medical breakthrough.
#Economy
PolitiFact
Half-True: The U.S. produces “more oil than we can consume. We’re a net oil exporter.”
The U.S. is a net exporter of "crude oil and petroleum products," but in the narrower measure of crude oil by itself — which is the most important factor in determining gasoline prices — the U.S. is a net importer.The U.S. produces a lot of crude oil, but it’s not clear that the U.S. could meet its consumption needs on its own. Because the U.S. has chosen to participate in the international trading system for oil, prices at the pump remain greatly influenced by international events.
#Conflicts
Lead Stories
False: US-Israeli airstrike on autistic and Down syndrome workers at Cafe Downtism in Tehran
The video appeared on the internet 25 days before the most recent military escalation in the region. It showed the consequences of a fire, not a strike.
India Today
False: Proof of an Iranian attack on the oil refinery in Haifa, Israel.
The first video that's been claimed as proof has been online at least since May 2025, and the second video is AI-generated.
Snopes
False: In March 2026, Russian President Vladimir Putin posted on X that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu died in an airstrike.
A post claiming Putin announced Netanyahu's death in an Israeli airstrike originated from a clearly labelled parody X account, @MrputinSpoof, not the Russian president. Screenshots that cropped out the spoof handle spread the post on Facebook and Threads, misleading some users into believing it was genuine.
#Nordics
Tjekdet
Det er rigtigt: Socialdemokraterne har tidligere stemt imod de forslag, de nu fremlægger i valgkampen.
De danske socialdemokrater har lanceret valgkampforslag, der skal forbedre svinenes velfærd, men hvert eneste af disse tiltag var allerede blevet fremsat af oppositionspartierne, mens Socialdemokraterne sad i regeringen – og nedstemt af Socialdemokraterne selv.
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: The word "quarantine" stems from the Italian word for "forty," representing the number of days persons potentially exposed to communicable diseases had to remain in isolation.
The word "quarantine" traces back to 14th-century Europe, when the city of Ragusa (modern Dubrovnik) first imposed a mandatory 30-day isolation period — a "trentino" — on travelers from plague-affected areas in 1377, which was later extended to 40 days, or "quarantino," from the Italian word for forty.
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