As tensions flare in the Middle East, Iranian state media is recycling old visual content -- from Russian missile launches to Pakistani drone debris -- to present a distorted picture of the country's conflict with Israel.
Videos and images showing drone strikes, explosions, and missile impacts have been stripped of context and repurposed to support misleading narratives
On June 13, the first day of the conflict, Iran’s state-run broadcaster IRIB TV1 aired dramatic footage of missiles exploding over the sea, accompanied by images of pro-government rallies and commentary on the ongoing hostilities.
However, the footage had no apparent connection to Iran.
A basic reverse image search of the video’s thumbnail takes you to a YouTube channel called Navy Lookout, which posted the same video in March 2022, identifying it as Russian missile launches in the Black Sea.
After the video was broadcast in Iran on June 13, it was reposted across social media several times the next day and falsely presented as footage of Iranian missile launches.
A week later, the same TV station went even further, using muted footage of an Israeli attack on Iran -- filmed near Chitgar Lake in Tehran and posted online on June 16 -- while talking about Iran attacking Israel with long-range and heavy missiles.
Fresh Footage From Ukraine And Pakistan
IRIB TV1 is not the only state media outlet reusing old footage. PressTV, Iran’s English-language state-run news channel, has shared at least two outdated photos, both inaccurately presented as depicting the current conflict.
On June 17, Press TV posted a photo of a drowned drone with the caption: "Israeli drone shot down near the Natanz nuclear site.”
Natanz is one of Iran’s nuclear facilities reportedly targeted by Israeli strikes in the past week.
The photo had already made the rounds online a month ago in Pakistani news stories claiming the country's military had downed Israeli-made drones launched by India.
Day later, PressTV posted another photo to their X account, showing smoke rising as a result of several explosions across a city’s skyline, claiming it was “Tel Aviv, now.”
Although the image is new -- it first emerged online on June 17 -- it does not show Tel Aviv, but another Russian attack in Ukraine, shared by Ukrainian media and several accounts on social networks.
In addition to state media, several private accounts -- including some that claim to be state-affiliated -- have circulated old footage from Ukraine falsely labeled as scenes from Israel, as well as compilations of manipulated videos and even AI-generated content.
