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VERIFYING three false claims about the Rainbow Bridge car explosion

In the absence of fact, rumors spread quickly after a car exploded and closed border crossings between the U.S. and Canada on one of the year's busiest travel days.

WASHINGTON — American and Canadian authorities closed four border crossings Wednesday afternoon after a car exploded near a Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Niagara Falls, New York.

Fear about a possible terrorist attack, either in retaliation for American support of Israel's war against Hamas or because the day before Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel days of the year, caused information to move quickly on social media, sometimes before it was proven true or false.

Here are three of the false claims that gained traction in the moments following the explosion.

QUESTION

Did the Rainbow Bridge collapse because of the explosion?

SOURCES

Photos and videos taken after the explosion

ANSWER

   

This is false.

No, the explosion did not cause the bridge to collapse

WHAT WE FOUND

This post on X, formerly known as Twitter, was posted by a user who paid for a verification checkmark and has 64,000 followers. It was seen more than 5,000 times.

Among other things, the tweet claims that the Rainbow Bridge collapsed.

But in photos such as those shared by the Washington Post and videos broadcast by WGRZ-TV show the bridge still standing. It remained closed Wednesday night, with no estimated time of reopening.

QUESTION

Did the vehicle drive into the bridge, causing the explosion?

SOURCES

Gov. Kathy Huchul

Video provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection

ANSWER

This is false.

The crash and explosion occurred near the bridge, but the car did not hit the bridge.

WHAT WE FOUND

This tweet, which was liked and retweeted dozens of times, claimed that a vehicle drove into the Rainbow Bridge, causing the explosion.

While the crash and subsequent explosion were near the bridge, they did not occur on the bridge.

Surveillance video released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows the vehicle driving quickly, hitting a curb and going airborne, then crashing into a booth a a border checkpoint on the U.S. side of the bridge. The two people inside the car died, while a CBP agent inside the booth was injured.

"The booth literally protected that individual," Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-New York) said during a press briefing.

QUESTION

Did the U.S. give $10 billion to Iran?

SOURCES

U.S. State Department

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer

FBI

Gov. Kathy Hochul

ANSWER

   

This is false.

Iran recently received renewed access to $10 billion, but the money did not come from the U.S.

WHAT WE FOUND

Laura Loomer, a former Project Veritas member with nearly 700,000 followers, posted a tweet (language warning) claiming that an Iranian passport was found near the exploded car, said President Joe Biden sent $10 billion to Iran days ago, and stated that Iran funded the recent Hamas and Hezbollah attacks against Israel. More than 460,000 people viewed the tweet, and it had been shared more than 3,000 times and liked more than 5,000 times.

Shortly after the explosion, three other nearby border crossings were closed and security was heightened at airports and government buildings in Western New York. In her evening press briefing, Gov. Hochul said the two people who died in the explosion were local residents. No evidence has been made public that Iranian passports were found in the debris.

The FBI's Buffalo field office issued a statement Wednesday night at the end of its investigation, saying no evidence pointed to terrorism as a cause.

According to Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Missouri), the United States extended a waiver of a sanction on Iran on Nov. 14. During a press briefing the same day, a State Department spokesperson said the waiver had been in place since the Trump Administration.

It allowed Iran to receive revenue from the sale of energy to Iraq. The money is held in accounts overseen by Oman, and the State Department says the account is restricted so that Iran may only use the money to pay for food, medicine, or similar humanitarian items.

Rep. Luetkemeyer said in a statement that Iran may try to launder the money, and that the United States should not trust Iran while it "is actively financing terrorism around the world."

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