After Israel's June 13 strike on Iran, many viral videos and images on social media claim to show the latest escalation between the two countries. But not everything is authentic — DW Fact Check takes a closer look.
In the early hours ofJune 13, Israel launched amassive strike on different targets in Iran— primarily military and nuclear facilities as well as high-ranking officers and scientists.
Following these strikes, many images purporting to show Israel's attack or Iran's counterattack have been shared on social media.
DW Fact Checktook a closer look.
Claim: A viralvideo on TikTokwith over 660,000 views at the time of publication claims to showtheIraniansites hit and destroyed by Israeli attackson June 13.
All scenes in the video areAI-generated. If you look closely, you can spotseveralodd things.
For example, in the first frame of the scene with the burned-out cars (00:08), the teddy bear has a distorted face and appears unnaturally clean compared to its surroundings.These inconsistencies strongly suggest the use of AI in the video's creation.
In the scene at the burning airfield(00:24), the firefighters on one side of the pit remain completely still, while those on the other seem to vanish into thin air.Additionally, the rocket debris in the pit features two arrowheads.
A closer look at the account behind the video, Malka.415, reveals the owner is heavily involved in creating AI-generated videos based on current news events for their channel.
Claim:Several widely shared posts on X,including this one, claim the video shows incoming Israeli missiles targeting Iran.Others assert it depictsIran's response to Israel.
The videodoes not depict the current escalation between Israel and Iran. Areverse image searchof a still frame confirms that the footage was first shared eight months ago.
It most likely shows an Iranian missile attack on Israel in October 2024, which was in retaliation to a prior Israeli strike. This is also indicated in the community notes attached to some of the posts, such asthis one.
This case highlights how old footage is repeatedly recycled to garner attention and spread misinformation. The same video, for example, was previously posted — and debunkedhere— in the context of the recent Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan.
Claim:Animage on X, viewed 3.6million times at the time of writing,allegedly showsthat "Iran has launched missiles at Israel,"as stated in thecaption.
While Iranresponded to Friday's attacks by launching drones, there have been no official statements confirming missile launches. If missiles had been launched, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) would likely have issued a statement.Areverse image searchreveals the photo in the post is from a military exercise in Iran several years ago. The image first appeared online in 2021.
Thephotographappears to have been taken in southern Iran during the 17th Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) jointGreat Prophet 17exercise in December 2021, which included the launch of rockets and missiles as part of a five-day military drill.
Given thesimilar imagesfrom this exercise circulating online, taken by different photographers at slightly different times, it is clear the photo is real but unrelated to the current conflict.