No, this image does not show Israel's recent attack on Tehran

What's the claim?

An image showing thick, dark smoke billowing into the sky, indicating an intense fire or explosion, with buildings in the foreground, has gone viral on social media. 

Many users claim that it shows a blast at a military site in Tehran following an alleged Israeli attack. One user on X (formerly Twitter) shared the image along with the caption, "BREAKING: Reports that Israel's attack on Iran started. Explosions in Iran reported." By the time this story was written, the post had garnered more than 4,000 likes, 824 shares, and over 459,000 views. Archived versions of similar posts are accessible here and here.

This image has also been shared on Facebook with similar claims and can be viewed here and here.

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

The claim emerged after Israel launched a series of pre-dawn airstrikes targeting military sites in Iran on October 26, 2024. According to reports, the strikes were a retaliation against Iranian missiles filed at Israel earlier in the month. The series of attacks are ongoing.

However, the image does not show a recent Israeli attack on Tehran. It shows an explosion at an oil refinery in 2021.

What we found

Using a reverse image search, Logically Facts discovered that the image appeared in an Al Jazeera Mubasher report published on June 2, 2021. The Arabic report, translated, was titled "A large fire broke out in an oil refinery south of Tehran." The image was credited to Agence France-Presse (AFP). The same image was also used in a report by Canadian news outlet The Globe and Mail from June 2021. The report covered the same oil refinery fire, with credits attributed to AFP photographer Atta Kenare via Getty Images.

The Getty Images record of the image (archive here) confirms it was taken on June 2, 2021. The description reads, "A picture taken on June 2, 2021, shows smoke billowing from the site of a refinery fire in the Iranian capital, Tehran. A fierce blaze broke out at a refinery in southern Tehran after a liquefied gas line leaked and exploded, the head of the capital's crisis team said on state television." The same image was also found on AFP (archive here) with a similar description.

Screenshot of the image in an AFP report, which states it was taken in June 2021. (Source: AFP/Red highlight added by Logically Facts)

The 2021 oil refinery incident in Tehran was extensively reported by prominent media outlets, including Reuters and the Associated Press. According to the reports, the fire struck the Tondgooyan Petrochemical.Co in south Tehran. Mansour Darajati, head of Tehran's crisis management organization, stated that the fire was ignited by a leak in a liquefied gas pipeline. Despite the intensity of the blaze and the disruption it caused, a report from CNN confirmed that there were no casualties linked to the incident.

The verdict

The widely circulated image is being misused to associate it with a recent Israeli attack on Iran. In reality, this photo is from a 2021 incident when a fire broke out at the Tondguyan oil refinery in southern Tehran.