Video of drone attack on Iranian president’s helicopter

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has checked this content and established that it is false.

To arrive at this verdict, the team reverse-image searched screenshots of the video from different angles.

HOW IT STARTED

On May 20, 2024, a PTI supporter, describing themselves as a journalist according to their bio, shared a video on X showing a missile attack on a helicopter and shooting it out of the sky.

The caption for the post said, “This video from the mountainous regions of Iran is going viral. The location of the drone strike is being determined. As a result of the drone attack, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi fell in the middle of the mountains along with other companions.”

The claim garnered over 32,000 views.

The same claim was shared by other X users as well here and here.

METHODOLOGY

The iVerify Pakistan sought to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and the public’s keen interest in the incident of the Iranian president’s helicopter crash with the claim saying that it was actually a deliberate attack.

To investigate the circulated video, the iVerify Pakistan team took screenshots from the video and conducted a reverse image search.

The team found news stories from various news outlets on the original video. Furthermore, the team also discovered that the video circulating on X was actually an incomplete and shorter version which did not show the whole thing.

The first story the team found was published by UK-based news outlet Daily Mirror, dated back to May 24, 2016, with the headline, “Horrifying video shows attack helicopter being blown out of the sky with a rocket launcher”.

According to the story, Kurdish militants filmed themselves shooting down a Turkish AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter with an SA-18 MANPADS missile launcher. The footage shows the missile hitting the helicopter’s tail, causing it to spin, explode, and crash, with no sign of the crew escaping.

Another story the team found was published by Uk-based outlet The Sun on May 16, 2016, with the headline, “Shocking moment Turkish attack helicopter is shot out of the sky by Kurdish militant carrying a surface-to-air missile”.

Upon investigating the original video, the team found that it had been shared at different times with different claims and associations on social media platforms previously as well.

IRANIAN HELICOPTER CRASH

Iran confirmed on May 20, 2024, that President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border.

A total of nine people were on board the aircraft, according to the Tasnim news agency, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian. Raisi’s convoy had included three helicopters, and the other two had “reached their destination safely”, said the news agency.

CONCLUSION

The iVerify Pakistan team has determined that the claim of a video showing a drone attack on the Iranian president’s helicopter and shooting it down is false since the video is an old one.

The circulated video is actually of Kurdish militants shooting down a Turkish helicopter circa May 2016.

Evidence and References

May 24, 2016, Daily Mirror news report:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/horrifying-video-shows-attack-helicopter-8043228

May 16, 2016, The Sun news report:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1198047/shocking-moment-turkish-attack-helicopter-is-shot-out-of-the-sky-by-kurdish-militant-carrying-a-surface-to-air-missile/