Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

BBC Verify Live will be closing shortly here’s a catch-up on what we’ve been covering.

We’ve spent much of today pulling together what we can see from publicly available sources about US military movements in the Gulf as speculation mounts that Washington could launch strikes on Iran.

We now know more US military assets are in the region, including:

• Guided-missile destroyer USS Delbert D Black was tracked sailing through the Suez Canal yesterday
• A US Navy MQ-4C Triton was seen on flight-tracking operating over the Gulf earlier today
• P-8 Poseidon, E-11A and E-3G Sentry surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft have be seen in the Middle East

Here in the UK we’ve been looking into the government’s new border security agreement with China.

Around the world, we’ve tracked the final movements before a deadly plane crash in Colombia, verified reports of heavy gunfire in Niger’s capital Niamey and debunked fake AI images after an attack on a US congresswoman.

Over on YouTube there’s our frame-by-frame analysis of the moments before the killing of Alex Pretti, external by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis.

There’ll be more from the BBC Verify team on tomorrow’s live page.

Joshua Cheetham
BBC Verify journalist

We’ve been speaking to plane tracking expert Steffan Watkins about the various US military aircraft that have been visible on sites like Flightradar24 in and around the Middle East in recent days.

He’s been looking at flights and notes a US AIr Force (USAF) E-11A aircraft departed today from Crete heading for Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

This modified commercial jet acts as a flying communications hub so US forces can share information quickly and securely across broad areas.

Watkins also points to the presence in Qatar of a USAF Boeing RC-135 which is used for electronic surveillance.

“The most specialised aircraft show up last,” says Watkins. “If they had been moved to the region two weeks ago, they would have been twiddling their thumbs all this time. That they're showing up now shows they have work to do.”

He says another type of aircraft to watch is the E-3G Sentry, which is used for surveillance and co-ordinating military operations.

He notes that an E-3G flew to the Middle East on the same day the US bombed several Iranian nuclear facilities last summer.

“The E-3G Sentry is the final piece,” says Watkins. “If things play out the same way as Midnight Hammer [the codename for last year’s US attacks on Iran] it will show the strike is imminent.”

Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify journalist

The UK government has signed a new border security agreement with China during Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to Beijing.

The pact aims to disrupt the supply of Chinese-made small boat engines and equipment to gangs helping migrants cross the English Channel. Downing Street said that last year more than 60% of these engines carried Chinese branding.

Today’s announcement comes after the UK government , externala, externalnnounced sanctions in July last year against a Chinese company which advertised inflatable boats explicitly for the purpose of people smuggling.

The people-smuggling trade is a global network of manufacturers, transporters and storage operators.

The National Crime Agency’s 2025 report on organised immigration crime, external named four European countries typically involved in the trade, but mentioned that small boat material is “manufactured in China”.

Jake Horton
BBC Verify

Image source, Getty Images

US border czar Tom Homan said during a news conference in Minneapolis today that America’s sanctuary cities ”endanger the residents of the community”. He went on to criticise the police departments in some cities for not working with federal immigration authorities

So-called “sanctuary cities” are often described as such because they do not fully co-operate with the US government on immigration enforcement. As well as the state of Minnesota, cities including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago have sanctuary policies in places.

In some instances this means that local jails may not hand over to federal officials illegal immigrants who they have in custody.

Various studies across many US cities and counties have shown that sanctuary policies don’t lead to communities being less safe.

A study published in 2020 by David Hausman, external, assistant professor at Berkeley Law School, compared statistics across more than 200 sanctuary counties and jurisdictions between 2010 and 2015. It found that although sanctuary policies did limit deportations, they didn’t result in higher crime rates.

Other studies, such as this one published in 2020, external and this one from 2022, external, came to the same conclusion.

And research by the Center for American Progress in 2017, external found that on average there are 35.5 fewer crimes committed per 10,000 people in counties that don’t transfer illegal immigrants in detention to ICE compared with those counties that do.

Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify journalist

Image source, Reuters

During his Minneapolis news conference earlier, US border czar Tom Homan said the Trump administration “has absolutely focused on identifying removable aliens that pose a public safety threat and national security threats”.

“The numbers prove it, the data proves it,” he added.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) publishes figures, external on the number of detained illegal migrants by security level. A detainee’s security risk is based on public safety factors such as previous criminal convictions, disciplinary record and other management concerns.

There are four categories of security risk: A=low, B=medium low, C=medium high and D=high.

At the end of December, more than half of the nearly 66,000 ICE detainees at that time were classified as low security risks (A).

The highest security category (D) had the lowest number of detainees at 6,486.

The same data shows half of detainees around that time had a criminal charge or conviction.

Peter Mwai
BBC Verify senior journalist, reporting from Nairobi

Image source, X

Following reports of heavy gunfire and blasts around the main airport in Niamey, the capital of Niger, I have now verified images showing motorcycles and guns said to have been used by the attackers.

Through matching features seen in the footage including trees and buildings with satellite imagery on Google, I can say the pictures were taken near the Talladje neighbourhood west of the Diori Hamani International Airport. A black and white flag with Arabic writing is visible on one of the motorbikes.

BBC Monitoring, which tracks jihadist activity, has confirmed it is the Shahada flag, which shows the Muslim declaration of faith. This flag is used by both the al-Qaeda affiliate Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Islamic State group use the flag.

It isn’t possible to say which group carried out today’s attack. I’m currently checking another image that is said to show the bodies of five dead attackers. The Niger government says the situation is under control.

Alex Murray
BBC Verify journalist

We’re continuing to track US military movements in the Gulf and wider Middle East amid speculation of an impending American attack on Iran.

However, it’s worth noting that not every ship or plane seen in the area might be there for some future action - they could be taking part in planned maneuvers.

“It should be noted that there are exercises in Saudi Arabia so some of the moves could be linked to that activity, but the exercise could equally be a cover for additional movement into the region,” according to McKenzie Intelligence Services.

Similarly, Iran is carrying out live fire drills near the Strait of Hormuz at the moment.

“These operations began on 27 January and will end today. Part of these drills has included the deployment of the IRIS Shahid Bagheri drone carrier within its territorial waters,” said Megan Sutcliffe, principal analyst at risk advisory firm Sibylline.

Image source, Sepahnews via EPA

Anthony Reuben
BBC Verify senior journalist

The Conservatives’ shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, has claimed the government's “one-in one-out” deal with France on small boat arrivals “saw 41,000 arrive and only 281 removed".

It is correct to say there were 41,472 arrivals in 2025. But the one-in one-out deal - which means for each person returned to France, the UK accepts someone with a case for protection as a refugee who has not attempted to cross the Channel - was only announced in August, with the first person returned to France on 18 September.

It’s since then that the 281 people have been removed from the UK, with 350 arriving.

Emma Pengelly and Kayleen Devlin
BBC Verify

We've reviewed flight-tracking data showing the final movements of a passenger plane that crashed in north-eastern Colombia killing 15 people on board.

There were two crew and 13 passengers on the Beechcraft 1900 operated by the country’s state-run airline Satena when it came down.

We can’t see any significant changes in the aircraft’s course before tracking data stops. Speed and altitude data provided by Flightradar24 shows it was descending and slowing down about 10 minutes before its scheduled landing in Ocaña.

It was possible to find the flight on the tracking website by putting in details provided by the airline including the aircraft’s registration HK-4709, departure airport and time.

Satena said it lost contact some 12 minutes after take off which also matches information from Flightradar24.

Aircraft wreckage has been found in a mountainous part of Playa de Belen and the airline says an investigation is under way.

Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

AI-generated images are being shared online falsely claiming to show evidence that an attack on Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar was staged.

The AI fake pictures have had more than a million views online and have been used to falsely claim that Omar paid the man who sprayed her with liquid during a town hall meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Anthony James Kazmierczak, 55, has been charged with third-degree assault and is being held in custody, the local sheriff's office said.

The AI images feature a watermark with the letters DFF and reverse image searches suggest they were created by a parody account on X called DFF with the bio – “Left, Right, we find em all and expose via high quality AI videos and memes”.

As well as these visible watermarks, the images also feature digital watermarks identified by Google’s own SynthID detector that tells us they were generated or edited by one of the company’s AI tools.

The quality of image generation is high and there are few obvious signs of AI - but a closer look reveals:

• The text on the water bottle and the man’s jacket appear scrambled - a common feature of AI text-to-image generators
• Kazmierczak’s clothes don’t match what he was seen wearing in genuine footage of the attack

Authorities have not yet identified the liquid sprayed at Omar, but according to a BBC journalist in the room, it had a sour smell similar to a chemical product.

You can see genuine video showing what happened here.

Throughout the week, BBC Verify has been analysing bystander footage capturing the moments before the killing of Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers in the US city of Minneapolis on Saturday.

We’ve gathered multiple angles of the incident to piece together a detailed picture of what happened.

Our analysis editor, Ros Atkins, talks through how the shooting unfolded, frame by frame, in a YouTube special.

The video, which does contain distressing images, can be seen here, external.

YouTube special produced by Tom Joyner. Graphics by Mesut Ersoz.

Matt Murphy
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, Getty Images

A US Navy drone has been operating over the Gulf near the coast of Iran since the early hours of this morning, Flightradar24 tracking data shows.

The MQ-4C Triton - an unmanned surveillance drone - left a base in Abu Dhabi late last night and has been flying over the Strait of Hormuz for hours.

Triton drones have been operating in the Strait on a daily basis since Monday. US Navy P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft have also be seen on tracking sites operating nearby in recent days.

Image source, FlightRadar24

It's unclear what exactly the aircraft are monitoring, but satellite images reviewed by BBC Verify have already shown that Tehran has deployed the drone-carrying ship IRIS Shahid Bagheri - which entered service last year - to the Strait of Hormuz.

Bagheri is a converted civilian ship which can launch swarms of drones and helicopters and is said to have some short-range air defence systems.

Peter Mwai
BBC Verify senior journalist, reporting from Nairobi

Image source, X

I’ve been checking reports of heavy gunfire and explosions around the main international airport in Niger’s capital Niamey this morning.

I looked at several videos posted on social media that show lights illuminating the night sky and capture the sound of what appears to be heavy explosions.

In another video, filmed inside the airport, people appear to take cover inside one of the airport buildings.

I verified the footage by matching the interior of the building and the duty-free shop to images on the website of a company involved in managing the airport.

Witnesses, who spoke to local media outlets, say the shooting began around midnight and continued for some time.

An official in Niger’s foreign affairs ministry was reported by the Anadolu news agency as saying the situation was under control without giving further details.

Niger is led by Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani who took power in a coup in July 2023.

The country has faced persistent insecurity and attacks in recent years mainly from jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda and so-called Islamic State. Strategic sites such as airports are heavily guarded.

Joshua Cheetham, Matt Murphy and Barbara Metzler
BBC Verify

Image source, Getty Images

Another US warship has arrived in the Middle East, ship-tracking data shows, as speculation continues to grow that the US could launch new strikes on Iran.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Delbert D Black was tracked sailing through the Suez Canal towards the Gulf on Wednesday, tracking site MarineTraffic showed.

At least 10 US warships are now believed to be in the Middle East, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

A US official confirmed to BBC Verify on Tuesday that the carrier is in the region but it hasn't appeared on tracking sites for more than a week.

However, early this morning BBC Verify tracked a US Navy Osprey aircraft that was seen in the Gulf heading towards Oman. Ospreys are a tiltrotor transport aircraft that can take off and land vertically like a helicopter but fly like a plane and are known to operate from the Abraham Lincoln.

BBC Verify also tracked an Osprey on Tuesday which started broadcasting its position off the coast of Oman which might suggest the US carrier could be in the area.

Rob Corp
BBC Verify Live editor

We start today with fresh insights into the apparent US military build-up in the Middle East. Washington has been raising the pressure on Tehran over the recent crackdown on country-wide protests and continuing concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Ship-tracking shows another American warship - the destroyer USS Delbert D Black - is now in the region having previously been in the Mediterranean. We’re also across flight-tracking resources to see what additional US military aircraft are in or heading to the Middle East.

Elsewhere, we’ve verified videos shared online following reports of gunfire and explosions at the main airport in Niamey, the capital of Niger. It’s not clear what caused the explosions but officials have reportedly said the situation is under control.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and China’s President Xi Jinping are expected to sign a "border security pact" in Beijing today. Our fact-check team is looking into the role of Chinese firms in providing the engines for small boats that bring migrants across the English Channel.