Iranian State-Affiliated False Claims Tracker: 16 Myths about the War and Counting
NewsGuard has identified 51 websites that have spread false claims about the Israel-Iran war and is tracking the top falsehoods and how they spread
By McKenzie Sadeghi, Sam Howard, and Charlene Lin | Last updated June 18, 2025
Hours after Israel launched attacks against Tehran’s nuclear sites and military leadership on June 13, 2025, Iranian state-controlled and affiliated media sources began to spread false claims attempting to portray Israel’s attack against the regime in Tehran as a failure and Iran’s retaliation as a success.
To date, NewsGuard’s global team of analysts has identified 16 false claims spreading across social media and identified 51 websites advancing these myths. These claims have ranged from AI-generated images and photos purporting to show mass destruction in Tel Aviv to false claims about the supposed capturing of Israeli pilots and other personnel.
The sources spreading these claims include Iranian military-affiliated Telegram channels as well as official Iran state media sources operating under the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), an Iranian state-owned corporation sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department. See NewsGuard’s Nutrition Labels for some of these outlets, including the Islamic Republic News Agency and Mehr News.
Iran employs a multi-layered strategy to introduce, amplify, and spread false and distorted narratives across the world — relying on a mix of official state media sources, anonymous websites and accounts, and proxy influencers to distribute propaganda that seeks to advance Tehran’s interests and undermine its adversaries. Iran-funded and operated websites use digital platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, and TikTok to spread false narratives.
NewsGuard’s analysts, who are trained in state media tracking techniques and fluent in relevant languages continuously monitor the information environment in multiple regions and investigate how high-risk false claims emerge, spread, and infiltrate democracies.
Researchers, platforms, advertisers, government agencies, or other institutions interested in accessing the full list of domains or want details about False Claim Fingerprints related to the Israel-Iran war can contact us here. NewsGuard is also reporting on trends and false claims about the war in its Russia, China, Iran Risk Briefing and Reality Check newsletter on Substack. These false claims are included in the FAILSafe datastream to protect AI models from being infected by Iranian, Russian and Chinese false claims.
Below is a selection of some of the false narratives from our ongoing reporting, and their corresponding debunks:
MYTH: Iran shot down Israeli F-35 fighter jets and captured a female pilot
There is no evidence that Iran downed two Israeli F-35 fighter jets in June 2025 or captured a female Israeli pilot, contrary to claims in Iranian state media. The false narrative has been refuted by Israeli officials and relies on images that are unrelated or fabricated.
As supposed evidence, sources advancing this narrative cited two photos: one purporting to show the wreckage of a downed F-35 fighter jet and the other supposedly showing the captured Israeli pilot, who was identified as “Sarah Ahronot.”
However, Col. Avichay Adraee, a spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), told news outlets, “This news being spread by Iranian media is completely baseless.” BBC Verify reporter Shayan Sardarizadeh noted on X that the wing, exhaust, and fuselage in the image are inconsistent with real F-35 jets.
Moreover, NewsGuard conducted a reverse image search of the “Sarah Ahronot” image and found that the photo was from December 2021 and actually shows a Chilean Navy lieutenant named Daniela Figueroa Scholz.
MYTH: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fled to Greece
Iranian sources, including the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, falsely claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fled to Greece, framing it as an act of cowardice ahead of Iran’s expected retaliation.
Sources advancing this claim cited as evidence a flight map showing that Netanyahu’s official aircraft traveled from Israel to Greece on June 13.
In fact, the aircraft’s sole passenger was the Israeli ambassador to Greece, Noam Katz, after commercial air traffic in Israel was suspended, according to news reports. Netanyahu was photographed at a security cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on June 13, and local news reports indicate that he met with his security cabinet on June 14 in an underground bunker.
MYTH: Israel’s navy commander, David Saar Salama, was killed in a June 2025 Iranian airstrike
There is no evidence that Iran killed Israeli Navy Commander David Saar Salama in a June 13, 2025, airstrike, contrary to claims by pro-Iran news sites and social media users.
On the day that Iran launched its first airstrikes aimed at Israel, pro-Iran media and social media users began to claim that Israel’s navy commander, whom they identified as “Aluf David Salami,” was killed after being targeted by an Iranian airstrike. The posts did not cite any sources or evidence for the claim. (The sources advancing the claim, which shared an image of Salama, misspelled his last name.)
However, NewsGuard found no credible news reports that Salama has been killed in an Iranian strike as of June 17, 2025, nor has any other senior Israeli government or military official reportedly been lost.