Claim: A compilation of three videos shows Iran’s “response” against the United States and Israel following the April 2024 attack on the Islamic Republic’s consulate in Damascus, Syria.
Fact: The footage in question is entirely unrelated to the recent military escalation between Iran and Israel. All videos predate Iran’s 14 April 2024 airstrike on Israel; the first shows an alleged meteorite seen on 4 April, the second depicts the 1 April launch of SpaceX Falcon 9, and the third is a January 2022 clip of rockets that were fired at the US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.
On 6 April 2024, TikTok user @mr09934 posted (archive) a video — a compilation of three short clips depicting different objects in the sky — with the following caption:
“Urgent Report: Bright Flying Object Spotted Near Iranian-Iraqi Border 🚨🚨
6/4/2024
It Seems that Iran’s Response Against US and 🇮🇱 Has begun”
Iran’s airstrike on Israel
The Israeli military said Iran launched over “300 drones and missiles towards Israel” in the middle of the night on Saturday, 13 April, the BBC reported (archive). The publication added that it “the first time ever” the Islamic Republic has carried out strikes against the Middle Eastern country.
However, Israel and its allies — including the US and the UK — shot down most of the drones and missiles before they entered its territory, the publication added.
This attack came two weeks after a suspected airstrike by Israel on 1 April 2024 on Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria, that killed seven Iranian officers, including two generals, The Associated Press reported (archive).
On 19 April, Israel reportedly launched an attack on Isfahan using “mini-drones”, with explosions heard in the Iranian city, Reuters said (archive) citing sources. There was no confirmation from Israel — as is the norm — and no casualties were reported by the media.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian also said the mini-drones had not “caused any damage or casualties”, the publication added.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the first video in the compilation and found a clip on YouTube, which was uploaded on 5 April 2024 with the title “meteor penetrates the atmosphere of the Earth over Iraq and Iran 2024 @NASA @SpaceX”.
We also found relevant articles by three media outlets that also suggest the video in question shows an alleged meteorite.
In a 5 April 2024 report titled “ՏԵՍԱՆՅՈՒԹ․ Իրանի և Իրաքի սահմանի վրայով թռչող լուսավոր օբյեկտ է նկատվել ․ ԶԼՄ [VIDEO. A bright object flying over the border of Iran and Iraq was observed. mass media],” Armenian media outlet Aurora News wrote, citing Russian news agency RIA Novosti, that a “flying luminous object” was seen “over the city of Ahvaz in southwestern Iran’s Khuzestan province”.
On the same date, Russian outlet Bloknot published a report with a headline which, when translated to English, reads, “Mysterious glowing object spotted in the sky between Iran and Iraq”. It reproduced a message from the Telegram channel of Iran’s Jamaran News and Information Center that reads, “Two videos showing the skies over Ahwaz and the airspace near Khuzestan in Iraq. Explanations regarding the nature of this object have not yet been published.”
Life.ru, another Russian publication, also posted an article on 5 April 2024 with a title that translated to “A luminous object was spotted in the sky above the Iran-Iraq border”. It stated that “the flight of a luminous object is reported” in the border areas between Iran and Iraq. “A video of a mysterious phenomenon is spreading across Iranian social networks,” it added.
Life.ru included the link to the Telegram post by Jamaran News and Information Center, which includes the following text:
“♨️دو فیلم از آسمان اهواز و داخل عراق در نزدیکی خوزستان
[♨️ Two films from Ahvaz sky and inside Iraq near Khuzestan]”
“🔸هنوز توضیحی درباره ماهیت این جسم پرنده منتشر نشده است.
[🔸An explanation about the nature of this flying object has not yet been published.]”
“🎥 فیلم ها از بیسیمچی مدیا
[🎥 Movies from Bisimchi Media]”
Soch Fact Check also found that the English-language X account of Iran International, a Persian-language TV channel based in Washington, also shared the footage with the following caption:
“Videos shared on social media show unidentified flying objects in the sky of Iran’s Khuzestan near the Iraqi border. The UFOs have also been spotted in the skies of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, reports say. Kuwaiti sources claim it was a meteorite.”
For further information, we reached out to Bara’a Al-Ma’any — a fact-checker with the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism’s (ARIJ) initiative, the Arab Fact-Checkers Network (AFCN) — who shared three videos.
The first one, titled “فوری تو اسمون اهواز شهاب سنگ دیده شده [A meteorite has been seen in the sky of Ahvaz]”, was uploaded at 10:59pm GMT on 4 April 2024.
The second, titled “A flying luminous object was spotted in the sky near the Iran-Iraq border”, was posted at 7:02am GMT on 5 April 2024.
The third one, titled “Lluvia de meteoritos sorprendió a habitantes de Irán, Irak e Israel [Meteor shower surprised residents of Iran, Iraq and Israel]”, was published at 5:31pm GMT on 5 April 2024.
A direct source of the second clip could not be located right away but Soch Fact Check found footage similar to that of a SpaceX rocket launch.
However, Al-Ma’any shared with us a matching YouTube video that was posted by ABC7 and depicts a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch on 1 April 2024.
The rocket, launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base, “was carrying 22 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit, met its targeted launch time of 7:30 p.m. and could be seen in the skies over Southern California”, according to this report.
Soch Fact Check found that the third clip shows an attack on the US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, on 14 January 2022, as reported by Sky News.
Screenshots from the video match cover images carried in multiple news articles.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found that the video in question is now unavailable. However, it had garnered over 46,400 views.
The footage was also shared here, here, and here on X (formerly Twitter) and here on Instagram.
Conclusion: The footage in question is entirely unrelated to the recent military escalation between Iran and Israel. All videos predate Iran’s 14 April 2024 airstrike on Israel; the first shows an alleged meteorite seen on 4 April, the second depicts the 1 April launch of SpaceX Falcon 9, and the third is a January 2022 clip of rockets that were fired at the US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.
Background image in cover photo: sina drakhshani
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