Old video falsely claimed to show recent Israeli strikes on Iran
'Scenes of Israeli missiles falling on the Iranian capital, Tehran,' reads the caption on a video published on Facebook on June 13, shortly after Israel launched air strikes on Iran.
The post was shared more than 40 times before it was deleted.
Image
Screenshot of the false Facebook post
The video appears to show rockets falling from the sky, identified by a red flash and rising smoke.
Israel's strikes on June 13, 2025, killed the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Mohammad Bagheri, and senior Revolutionary Guards commanders Hossein Salami and Gholam Ali Rashid (archived here).
According to Iranian media, top nuclear scientists were also killed.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the attack (archived here).
'We carried out a very successful opening strike,' he said in a video message. 'We have hit the senior command, we have hit senior scientists who are promoting the development of atomic bombs, we have hit nuclear facilities.'
Explosions were reported across the city of Tehran throughout the morning of June 13.
Subsequent Israeli attacks have since killed Iran's top military commander, Ali Shadmani, the closest figure to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (archived here).
Iran has retaliated by launching several waves of missiles at Israel (archived here).
However, the claim that the Facebook video shows a recent Israeli air strike is false.
Old footage
Using the video verification tool InVID-WeVerify, we conducted a reverse image search on keyframes from the video. This revealed that the same footage was previously posted online more than eight months ago.
The video was published by several local and international media outlets (here, here, and here), which described it as showing an Iranian strike on Israel that took place on October 1, 2024 (archived here, here, and here).
The strike targeted several Israeli airbases including Nevatim, one of Israel's largest bases (archived here).
Image
Satellite image from October 2, 2024 showing Israel's Nevatim airbase damaged by Iranian strikes on Oct 1, 2024 (AFP / Valentina BRESCHI, Olivia BUGAULT)
On October 1, 2024, Iran fired approximately 180 rockets into Israel (archived here) in response to the killings of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, and the Iranian commander of the Quds Force in Lebanon, Abbas Nilvoroshan – all attributed to Israel.
AFP Fact Check has previously debunked other claims relating to the same video, including the claim that it shows a Pakistani missile attack on India.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
What Iran's reprisals against Israel reveal of its ballistic missile capabilities
Tehran reportedly planned to rain 1,000 missiles down on Israel in response to the launch of military strikes on Iran. So far, Iran has managed to fire around 350 missiles, according to estimates published by the Israeli media citing the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). 'As of now, Iran's counterattacks don't seem to be very effective … I think the missile threat turns out to be, to some extent, overstated,' says Pieter Wezeman, a researcher with the Arms Transfers Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Before Israel launched its offensive, Iran's missile arsenal was considered one of its principal sources of deterrence. '[Iran's deterrence] was very much based on two legs. One leg – which had been significantly, let's say, disturbed or destroyed by Israel – was the so-called proxies: Hezbollah, Hamas and their ability to fire missiles and do other things. And the other significant leg was the missile force,' says Wezeman, who has written about the threat posed by missile proliferation throughout the Middle East. Estimates vary, but 'Israeli intelligence – the best information on this subject – had put the number [of Iranian missiles] at 3,000 or so before the war', says Frank Ledwidge, a specialist in military capabilities and strategy at the University of Portsmouth in the UK. This impressive number of missiles would mean that Iran had 'the largest stockpile in the Middle East', Australian public broadcaster ABC News reported, citing the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence. But this new war with Israel has shown a gap between theory and practice. First, the Israeli army targeted the infrastructure necessary for Iran to fire its missiles right from the start of hostilities. 'I would say that [Iran's arsenal] has now significantly been reduced – at least 50 percent,' Ledwidge says. Second, not all of Iran's missiles have the capacity to reach Israel, which is more than 1,000km from Iran. This means that only the longest-range missiles can strike the Jewish state, according to an analysis by Dutch researcher Ralph Savelsberg for the BreakingDefense website on June 13. Variants of Soviet-era Scud missiles developed by Iran are able to reach targets at a maximum range of less than 700km. Among the devices capable of hitting Israel are those "based on collaborations with North Korea, such as the Ghadr and Khorramshahr [medium-range ballistic missiles], but also advanced solid-propellant ballistic missiles,' Savelsberg writes. These are the missiles that are most dangerous for Israel and its famous air defense systems. But the nec plus ultra of Iran's ballistic arsenal does not represent the majority of missiles available. "Most are older-generation [missiles]. We're talking a few hundred of the modern ones," says Ledwidge. 'Haj Qassem' and 'Qassem Bashir' It's difficult to assess the extent to which Iran has deployed its most effective missiles so far. One thing is certain: Iran has been deploying both drones and missiles in tandem to increase their effects. "The drones essentially serve to distract Israeli defences to improve the missiles' chances of getting through," says Ledwige. 'It's a bit more complex than decoys, but [the drones] essentially soak up Israeli air defense capability,' Ledwidge says. Among the missiles that hit their targets, "those that struck Tel Aviv on Monday were likely the most modern versions of Iranian hypersonic missiles", Ledwige says. These include the "Fattah" models, which are among the fastest, as well as weapons that Tehran had apparently never used before. Iran has claimed since Sunday to have fired two relatively recent models – the Haj Qassem and Qassem Bashir missiles – that are capable of defeating the world's best air defense systems, including Israeli missile shields and the US-made Patriot system. The former was developed in 2021 and named in honour of Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Revolutionary Guards' elite Al-Quds Force who was assassinated in a 2020 US drone strike. The Qassem Bashir was unveiled in May. These new missiles offer more advantages: their speed – they can reach Mach 5, or more than 6,000 km/h – and the fact that they are powered by solid, rather than liquid, propellant. Having engines running on solid fuel "makes them easier to transport, hide, and faster to deploy', Wezeman says, because the missiles don't need to be fuelled up just before firing. Theory vs. Practice These new missiles offer another advantage. 'The hypersonic missiles (which go beyond speeds of Mach 5) of course have a manoeuvrable re-entry vehicle," says Ledwidge. In other words, they are harder to intercept, in that they can adjust their trajectory – either because they are remotely controlled, or because they are partially autonomous, meaning they can change course just before reaching the target co-ordinates based on the defensive measures deployed to counter them, Wezeman explained. In theory, then, this type of missile could indeed defeat any anti-aircraft system – but everything depends on execution. "As of now, Iran's counterattacks don't seem to be very effective, or as effective as they said. Israeli defenses have intercepted most of them," Wezeman says. Analysts are sceptical that Iran is saving its most powerful missiles for later in the conflict in the hopes of not further escalating tensions. 'Iran is not making a strong impression [militarily] at the moment," says Wezeman. "It cannot afford to look weak. So we could assume they are using their best missiles." Ledwidge says that, strategically, saving the best for last makes little sense. "it's better to use your best weapons at the beginning – before Israel destroys them – since they are priority targets," he says.
LeMonde
2 hours ago
- LeMonde
France planning European 'initiative' to end Iran-Israel conflict, says presidency
France is planning along with European partners to suggest a negotiated solution to end the conflict between Iran and Israel, President Emmanuel Macron's office said on Wednesday, June 18. At a national security council meeting, Macron ordered Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot to draw up in the coming days "an initiative with close European partners that would propose a demanding negotiated settlement to put an end to the conflict," the presidency said in a statement, without giving details on the nature of the plan. Barrot has been in regular touch with his German and British counterparts since Israel launched massive air strikes against Iran on Friday. All three countries were involved in talks that led to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers to curb Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for relief from sanctions. The United States withdrew from that accord during President Donald Trump's first term. Macron also urged Israel to end strikes on targets in Iran not linked to nuclear activities or ballistic missiles. He voiced "concern over the current escalation, with Israeli strikes increasingly hitting targets not linked to Iran's nuclear or ballistic program, and a mounting number of civilian victims in Iran and Israel," his office said. He said it was "necessary to urgently end these military operations, which pose significant threats to regional security," it added. The French president also urged the Foreign Ministry to take measures to help French citizens leave Israel or Iran if they wished to do so, the Elysée added, without providing further details.
LeMonde
5 hours ago
- LeMonde
Israel-Iran conflict: How Israel gained air superiority over Tehran
Two days after launching the June 13 attack on Iran, the Israeli military took control of the air corridor connecting Israel to Tehran. This dominance marks the culmination of a long conflict with Iran and its proxies, known as the "axis of resistance": Hezbollah, the Syrian regime, and Iraqi militia groups. After years of indirect confrontations, Israel took advantage of a favorable situation to act directly, by escalating the pressure in successive stages. The first turning point came in April 2024. On April 1, Israel destroyed an Iranian consular building in Damascus, killing several officers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The first direct confrontation between the two regional powers followed: On April 13, Iran targeted Israel's territory for the first time, notably the Nevatim Air Base in the Negev desert, with a barrage of 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles. The attack, which had been announced in advance, caused a limited level of damage. On April 19, the Israeli military responded in a measured, yet decisive, manner: Its air force destroyed a Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft battery, which had been tasked with defending nuclear facilities at Isfahan and Natanz. "This was a strategic warning strike to underline Israel's ability to attack any target located in Iran," wrote Pierre Razoux, academic director at the Mediterranean Foundation for Strategic Studies (FMES), in a study on the challenges of air superiority in the Middle East, published on May 20.
