Out-of-context videos mislead social users on Israel-Iran conflict

Euronews

19-06-2025

As Israel and Iran continue to exchange fire for the seventh consecutive day, a disinformation war is simultaneously escalating on social platforms.
Euronews' fact-checking team, Euroverify, has been analysing several viral videos emerging from Iran and Israel over recent days in order to verify their authenticity.
Our team found a significant number of old videos, unrelated to the current conflict, being falsely linked to the ongoing exchange of fire.
Many of them have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times and amplified across platforms, sowing confusion and misleading social media users.
A clip circulating widely across X, TikTok and Instagram, and seen hundreds of thousands of times, claims to show Iranians dancing as they shelter in tunnels in the capital of Tehran.
Some social media users allege they are celebrating Israeli strikes on the city.
"Iranians stuck in traffic on their way to northern Iran start singing and dancing inside a tunnel to celebrate Israeli attacks on the Islamic regime," one X user claims.
But a reverse image search using still shots from the clip shows that it was originally posted on Instagram as far back as September 2023.
Another video claims to show people fighting among themselves while sheltering at a Tel Aviv bunker.
One X post with the video has been viewed over 700,000 times.
Yet, the footage in fact shows an altercation at a Georgian court, which was first published on X on June 12, two days before Israel launched the first attacks against Iran.
On that day, a 21-year-old Georgian protester was sentenced to four years and six months in prison for "hitting police officers with a stick" during demonstrations against the ruling government last November.
Georgian media reported that following his sentencing the court building "descended into chaos" with hundreds of supporters, including the Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, present to lend their support to the accused.
Another video purports to show a crowd of Israeli citizens fleeing from a square in Tel Aviv amid Iranian strikes.
A reverse image search shows that the scene dates from April this year, when a false security alert triggered a swift evacuation of a square in Tel Aviv during a memorial day event.
While the scene does show residents fleeing an Israeli square, it pre-dates the current conflict.
Other social media users have shared a video claiming to show an explosion caused by an Iranian strike on Tel Aviv.
But the footage is astonishingly 22 years old, and shows a US strike on Iraq in 2003.
Similarly, recent footage showing an Israeli airstrike on Houthi targets in Yemen's capital Sanaa has been circulating with false claims that it shows explosions in Israel caused by Iranian attacks.
Divisions over the justification for Israel's attack on Iran last Friday are set to surface among ambassadors in Brussels on Thursday, stymying EU attempts at finding a common response to the crisis, according to sources Euronews has spoken to.
"It's definitely an issue that is being discussed - what is the extent to which this right of self-defence is acceptable," one source said.
The EU issued a statement on Saturday calling 'on all sides to abide by international law, show restraint and refrain from taking further steps which could lead to serious consequences such as potential radioactive release'.
Sources close to the discussion say a "major" part of the deliberations among member states was whether the EU should state 'Israel has a right to defend itself' in the context of its attacks against Iran.
Around 15 member states including Austria, Czechia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and the Netherlands wanted to add the line but it was not agreed unanimously.
Several other countries felt there wasn't sufficient evidence that Israel has the right under international law to launch its offensive against Iran.
Under international law, and the UN Charter, a state may exercise its right to self-defence in case of an armed attack or imminent attack. Any necessary action should also be proportionate.
Israel says its series of strikes are pre-emptive moves to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
The issue is set to be discussed by ambassadors in Brussels on Thursday and is an agenda item for next week's EU summit of heads of state and government. Draft conclusions for that summit seen by Euronews currently contain no wording in respect of the EU Council's position on the Israel-Iran conflict.
Meanwhile, EU sources told Euronews they were "surprised" by a tweet from the Commission President announcing implicit support for Israel's attacks against Tehran.
The message from Ursula von der Leyen went further than the agreed statement of the European Council, which is the arm of the EU with the authority to conduct foreign policy.
Ursula von der Leyen tweeted 'Spoke with President Herzog concerning the escalating situation in the Middle East. I reiterated Israel's right to defend itself and protect its people'.
'There was no consensus on saying Israel has a right to defend itself but Von der Leyen said it anyway,' another diplomatic source told Euronews.
'She saw the agreed language and then made her own statement,' they said.
'It was disheartening to be honest,' said the diplomat.
'These countries like Iran – as bad as they are don't simply submit when they're attacked like this, and what comes next will be so much worse even if there is regime change in Iran,' said this source, adding: 'And then when two or three million Iranians turn up on Europe's door they'll say we can't deal with this migration crisis."
'Member states which are critical of Israel said they thought Israeli attacks on Iran were irresponsible, but a large group is on board with von der Leyen's statement," said another diplomat.
'We would say that's a question for legal scholars – there is no judgement on that yet,' the diplomat responded, when asked if their government believed the war against Iran to be within the provisions of international law.
Former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohammad El Baradei claimed in a post on X that Israeli 'suspicion does not constitute an imminent threat', and that Israel's attack on nuclear facilities was illegal under international law.
'The president has made her position clear, her position has already been taken quite clearly by the G7 leaders statement on the developments in the region," von der Leyen's spokesperson said when asked about the difference between the official statement of the EU and that of the Commission president.
'She also communicated on social media stressing the fact that Israel has the right to defend itself and Iran is the main source of tension in the region,' said Stefan de Keersmaecker on Wednesday.
The EU regards Iran as major destabilising influence in the European continent through its military support of Russia.
Iran has been supplying Shahed drones to Russia since the start of Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to the Ukrainian army.
Meanwhile the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has since reiterated the official EU position for a diplomatic resolution to the Israel-Iran war.
And again called on all sides to 'abide by international law, and de-escalate the situation'.
She tweeted on Wednesday that 'Israel has the right to defend itself in line with international law.'