'Iran President's Helicopter Video', 'Wreckage Photos'... Fake News Spreading Indiscriminately on SNS

Helicopter Footage and Wreckage Photos All Fake News

False information related to the helicopter crash involving Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is spreading mainly on social networking services (SNS).

Ebrahim Raisi, President of Iran (left), is boarding a helicopter to return to Tabriz after attending the inauguration ceremony of the Kiz Galasi Dam held in the Varzgun area of East Azerbaijan Province on the 19th (local time). The helicopter carrying President Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian crashed in a mountainous area due to an unknown cause.
[Image source=Captured from Iran State TV IRINN]

On the 19th (local time), BBC News UK reported that after news of the accident spread, videos claiming to show the helicopter carrying President Raisi crashing on a mountainside and emitting black smoke circulated on SNS. However, these videos were confirmed to be footage of a rescue helicopter crash in Georgia in 2022. This video recorded over 1.6 million views. Another photo of helicopter wreckage, claimed to be from the helicopter carrying President Raisi and viewed about 100,000 times, was also identified by the media as related to a helicopter crash in Morocco in 2019.

Along with fake videos, rumors about President Raisi’s survival are also spreading. Fars News Agency, linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that President Raisi’s helicopter had landed safely and uploaded a photo of President Raisi standing near the helicopter, but later deleted it. However, upon verification, the photo posted and then removed by Fars News Agency was actually taken in 2022 during flood rescue operations in Iran.

Meanwhile, the helicopter carrying President Raisi crashed on the afternoon of the 19th in the Dizmar mountainous area near Varzeghan in the central part of East Azerbaijan Province in the northwest. At the time, the helicopter reportedly carried a total of nine people, including President Raisi, three officials, and crew members. Iranian authorities have dispatched more than 60 rescue teams and mobilized the military, police, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to conduct large-scale search operations. However, the search is hampered by nightfall, rugged mountainous terrain, blizzard conditions, and dense fog, making it difficult to locate the crash site.