Iran Israel

Does a viral image of a town's nighttime skyline under air attack show Iran's attacks on Tel Aviv during the hostilities between the two countries in June 2025? No, that's not true: Authentic coverage of the battle showed defensive weapons streaking upward and far fewer falling projectiles. Also, Tel Aviv's skyline is defined by more than 50 tall towers, while…

Does an image of a burnt building authentically show the Mossad's headquarters hit by an Iranian strike in June 2025? No, that's not true: The giveaway that the picture didn't show a real-life scene was the misspelled name of the Israeli intelligence agency. That and other clues suggested that the picture could have been modified or generated from scratch by…

Does a trending video on social media authentically capture a fight inside a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv, Israel, in June 2025? No, that's not true: What looked like a crowd pushing each other was a scene from another country, Georgia. It depicted the atmosphere on the day of a verdict in a high-profile trial 13 years earlier. The claim…

Does a viral video show an attack, fire or explosion in Tel Aviv, Israel? No, that's not true: The video actually shows a fire in a parking lot for motorcycles in Chongqing, China. Several social media posts falsely claimed the footage showed the result of an Iranian attack on Israel. An example of such a false attribution can be seen…

Does a viral video show the real-life aftermath of an Iranian attack hitting several skyscrapers in Tel Aviv, Israel? No, that's not true: The video digitally exaggerated the impact of a projectile hitting a specific area of that city. Lead Stories analysis found signs pointing to generative AI as the likely origin of the viral clip. The claim appeared in…

Does a viral video show the "first Iranian drone" shot down in Israel in mid-June 2025? No, that's not true: The footage was recorded in Ukraine. It's impossible for it to have documented the Iran-Israel conflict, as it was first posted to the web three years earlier. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on June…

Does a video authentically show a missile attack by Pakistan on Delhi? No, that's not true: A viral video misrepresents old footage of a ballistic missile attack on Tel Aviv in Israel as being related to the 2025 conflict between India and Pakistan. The missiles in the video were fired by Iran at Israel in 2024. The video appeared in…

Does a video of a circular object with sparks and smoke swirling under it as it falls to the ground show an Israeli drone sent by India being destroyed over Pakistan? No, that's not true: The video shows a firework known as a "Thai Girandola" misfiring during a launch in Thailand. The video is an edited version of the original…

Does video labelled on social media as "...footage of the Indian Army's attack on Sialkot, Pakistan" authentically show a 2025 Indian Army assault on its neighbor? No, that's not true: It is misleadingly re-labelled Al Jazeera footage lifted from 2023 coverage of the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas. At the time of writing this, there had been no credible…

Does a video show former One Direction singer Liam Payne falling to his death in Argentina? No, that's not true: The video is of another person escaping a fire. It was taken in Mexico in 2023, before Payne's death. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on October 17, 2024. The post, which included a series…