Fact check: Viral video said to be of Israeli attack on Tehran shows Oct 2024 Iranian strikes on Israel’s Nevatim airbase
Posts from multiple users on social media platform X on Friday shared a video amid the outbreak of Israeli attacks on Iran, claiming that it allegedly showed a missile attack on Tehran. However, the footage dates back to October 2024 and shows Iranian airstrikes on Israel’s Nevatim airbase.
Israel launched widescale strikes against Iran, saying it targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders and that this was start of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards corps said its top commander, Hossein Salami, was killed and state media reported that the unit’s headquarters in Tehran had been hit. Additionally, at least six nuclear scientists were also killed along with civilians, as per reports.
Today, an Israeli X user posted a video of missile attack on an unidentified location, with the following caption: “Crazy documentation from Iran, dozens of periods at the same time.”
The post was viewed nearly 30,000 times.
Israeli analyst Eli David shared the same clip with the following caption, “Tehran moments ago,” racking up 523,000 views.
It was also shared here, here, here, and here, gaining 209,000, 77,000, 11,000, and 2,000 views.
A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and influx of visuals coming out of the recent conflict between Iran and Israel.
A reverse image search of the keyframes of the clip yielded a posted by a user on X dated October 1, 2024, with the caption, “???????????????? 15 minutes Iranian missiles hitting Israel … supercut.”
Refining the search for that date yielded an October 1, 2024, YouTube video by Indian state broadcaster Doordarshan titled: “Iranian missiles targeting the Nevatim airbase in the Negev Desert”.
A keyword search for “Iran airstrike” and “Israel” around the corresponding date yielded an October 1, 2024, news report from Al Jazeera, titled “Iran says missiles fired at Israel in response to assassinations.”
According to the report, Iran launched a missile attack on Israel on October 1, 2024, in retaliation for the killing of senior Iranian and allied leaders, including top commanders from Hezbollah and Hamas.
Israeli authorities reported that around 200 ballistic missiles were fired, triggering air raid sirens and shelter warnings across several regions. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had claimed responsibility, labelling the attack a response to Israeli “crimes”. While many of the missiles were intercepted, some caused significant damage and casualties, escalating fears of further regional conflict.
The viral clip was also circulated during the military conflict between India and Pakistan in May with claims it showed India attacking Pakistan.
Therefore, the fact-check determined that the claim that a viral video shows an Israeli attack in Tehran is false. The video is old from October 2024 and shows Iranian airstrikes on Israel’s Nevatim airbase.
This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.