Photo Does Not Show U.S. Navy SEALs Humiliated by Yemen’s Houthi Rebels
By Charlene Lin
What happened: Pro-Chinese sources are spreading an image purporting to show U.S. Navy SEALs captured by Yemen’s Houthi rebels being paraded on the streets with sacks over their heads, following U.S. airstrikes on the group.
Context: On March 15, the U.S. launched an offensive targeting the Houthis — who are backed by Iran — in response to the militant group’s threats to resume attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea. U.S. President Donald Trump said in a March 19 Truth Social post that the Houthis “will be completely annihilated” and warned Iran against continuing to aid the group.
A closer look: The photo displayed above was initially shared by Chinese social media users in early July 2024, following clashes between U.S. forces and the Houthis in the Red Sea. Shortly after the March 2025 U.S. attack, pro-China social media users began pushing the photo more widely.
On Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, pro-China user @dyppe7mteqdm featured the photo in a March 23 video with the caption: “The U.S. Navy SEAL: The Houthis cover their heads with sacks and parade them on the street! Now the whole world knows!” The video garnered 35,000 likes and 820 shares in three days.
An anonymous user on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging site, shared a video that featured the photo, captioning it: “Breaking news from Yemen: The U.S. soldiers were ready to catch the Houthis in Yemen, but they were captured once they landed and paraded around with sacks over their heads.” The video received 20,000 views and 180 likes in three days.
Actually: The photo shows Iranian soldiers mockingly dressed as captured U.S. sailors during a 2016 rally in Iran.
A reverse image search by NewsGuard found that the photo was originally taken by Associated Press photographer Ebrahim Noroozi at a Feb. 11, 2016, rally in Tehran, Iran. The rally commemorated the Islamic Revolution, the 1979 movement that ousted the U.S.-backed shah of Iran.
According to the AP’s photo caption, the image shows members of a paramilitary force within Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Crops at the rally, reenacting the Jan. 12, 2016, capture of U.S. sailors by the Revolutionary Guard in the Persian Gulf. On that day, 10 U.S. sailors were captured and held in Iran for a day after their small vessels crossed into Iranian territorial waters.
There is no credible reporting or evidence that U.S. Navy SEALs were captured by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in March 2025. No U.S. troops were reported to have been on the ground in Yemen.