Image of gas station fire in Iraq shared as 'Iranian missiles hitting Israel'

What’s the claim?

Amid escalating tensions following Iran's recent drone and missile attack on Israel, a photo allegedly depicting an explosion has been widely circulated on social media. The claim accompanying the image suggests it shows the aftermath of Iran's attack on Israel.

A Facebook user shared a screenshot of a post, now deleted, from X (previously known as Twitter) by Jackson Hinkle, notorious for disseminating misinformation and disinformation online. The caption of the shared screenshot read, "I thought ISRAEL said they intercepted 99 percent of IRANIAN MISSILES?" An archived version of the Facebook post can be found here.

Screenshot of claims made online. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

Contrary to the claims, however, the viral image is neither from Israel nor related to the current Iran-Israel tensions.

What we found

Logically Facts, through a Google reverse image search, discovered an X post dated April 13 by a local Kurdish network, Rudaw News. This post contained a video clip showing the same visuals as the viral image. The post was captioned in Arabic, with the English translation reading, “Urgent; A citizen sent this video to Rudaw, saying a gas station caught fire on the Erbil-Makhmur road.”

Several local Iraqi news outlets also displayed the same visuals, reporting that it depicts a fire at a gas fuel station along Iraq's Erbil-Makhmur road. According to a report from Shafaq News, the Civil Defense Directorate in Erbil Governorate, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, confirmed the incident on April 13, 2024. They stated that a fire broke out at a fuel warehouse and filling station on the route to Makhmour District. The report stated that authorities extinguished the fire in less than an hour and included visuals of the aftermath.

Comparison showing the viral post and the video from Iraq. (Source: X/@arabick24)

It's worth noting that Iran launched explosive drones and fired missiles at Israel late on April 13, 2024. As reported by the BBC, the Israeli military intercepted the majority of the rockets fired by Iran overnight. The viral image was available on the internet hours before the Iranian strike.

The verdict

The viral photo originates from Iraq and does not show the damage caused by Iranian missiles in Israel. Furthermore, it was published several hours before Iranian missiles reached Israel after midnight. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.