Fact Check: Iranian Claim of Shooting Down Israeli F-35 Debunked with Video Game Footage

In the early hours of April 19, Israel launched a military operation against Iran. This made things worse between the two countries, which are rivals in the area. According to Iranian state media, air defense weapons were turned on after explosions were seen near a major airbase near the city of Isfahan in central Iran.

A video that supposedly shows Iranian air defenses shooting down Israeli F-35 jets over Isfahan is now going viral. Someone on X shared this video and wrote, “Breaking: Iranian anti-aircraft fire destroyed the first Israeli F-35 in history over Isfahan.” From its past, you can see this.

The video that went viral is not of Iran’s defense powers; it is from the video game “Arma 3,” which is a military simulation.

OUR PROBE

Many people who responded to the post that went popular said that the video wasn’t of a real event but rather footage from the video game “Arma 3.” They said that this movie came from the “Compared Comparison” YouTube channel.

We found the same video that was posted on June 28, 2023, with the title “Fighter Jet Explodes after C-RAM System Hits Engine – Military Simulation – ArmA 3.” Even though Israel didn’t attack Isfahan, the movie has been seen over 40 million times.

It says on its YouTube channel that it uses simulation games like “Arma 3” and “Digital Combat Simulator World” to make current military movies. The channel also posted a lot of other simulations that looked like the video that went popular.

It’s possible that Iran shot down an Israeli F-35 fighter jet, but we couldn’t find any reliable news that would back this up.

That being said, it’s very clear that fake video game footage was used as Iran’s defense against an Israeli attack.