Iran state TV airs clip of blaze in Chile, claims it shows destruction in Israel
Fact-finding analyst highlights spurious Islamic Republic broadcasting amid wave of social media clips falsely claiming Israel was pounded by Iranian rockets
A video clip aired by Iran’s state TV service claiming to show fiery destruction in Israel due to a massive Iranian missile and drone attack is months-old footage of a fire in Chile, a reporter for a fact-finding division of the BBC clarified Sunday.
Shayan Sardarizadeh posted screen captures from the video broadcast by Iran alongside shots from the same video circulating on social media earlier this year.
Iran on Saturday night launched a large wave of around 300 attack drones and missiles from its territory toward the Jewish state, in the first-ever direct attack on Israel by the Islamic Republic, triggering air raid sirens throughout the country.
Tensions between Israel and Iran had reached a new high in recent days as the Islamic Republic vowed to avenge seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members, including two generals, who were killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike on a building near Tehran’s consulate in Damascus on April 1.
The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that 99 percent of the incoming missiles and drones were downed before they reached the country. Several ballistic missiles hit inside an airbase, causing minor damage. The US, UK, France, and Jordan all participated in efforts to intercept the incoming drones.
The video broadcast by Iranian television was at first identified as being from a March fire in Texas.
Iran's state TV has been continuously running this video tonight as evidence of its missiles making impact on the ground and hitting targets in Israel.
But it's old footage of farm fire in Texas and completely unrelated to tonight's attack. https://t.co/ZZJpmcHQxk
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) April 14, 2024
However, Sardarizadeh later cited user “cazamosfakenews” on the X platform as correctly assessing the clip was from a fire in Chile that has been circulating “since February.”
Iran's state TV has been continuously running this video tonight as evidence of its missiles making impact on the ground and hitting targets in Israel.
But it's old footage of farm fire in Texas and completely unrelated to tonight's attack. https://t.co/ZZJpmcHQxk
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) April 14, 2024
In other posts, Sardarizadeh clarified that a video claiming to show jubilant Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem’s Old City celebrating the Iranian attack was in fact taken Friday as worshipers marked the end of Ramadan.
In addition, Sardarizadeh noted that a video shared by far-right social influencer Jackson Hinkle purporting to show “Israelis panicking” during the Iranian strike was in actuality “Louis Tomlinson fans near Four Seasons Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina last week.”
Hinkle also shared the alleged al-Aqsa video as well as numerous other unverified clips he claimed showed Israel being pounded by Iranian missiles.
