Everything's lies. The release of those pictures had probably been planned for months before the US government (or whomever) finally publicized them, for what purpose I'm sure we'll find out in due time.
I say released by the US government to emphasize the point that we, as the general population, truly have no idea what's behind anything going on in the world. (Why would the US government bring this upon themselves, blah blah. I don't know, we'll find out in due time and learn to read.)