Old Iran protest video shared with false claims it shows recent unrest

A video is circulating on social media with claims it shows anti-government protests taking place in Iran amid days of airstrikes between Iran and Israel. But this is an old clip that predates these events.

The video shows a fight amongst a crowd of people, some of whom appear to be police or security forces carrying shields and batons. It has been widely shared in recent days including with the caption: “BREAKING: Protests against the regime have begun in Iran.”

But this footage does not show anti-government protests in Iran amid the recent Israel-Iran airstrikes.

It’s actually footage from protests in Iran in 2017—it was shared on X (formerly Twitter) in December 2017, and also appeared in reporting on the protests by media organisations at the time, including with claims it showed police officers kicking protesters.

These protests, which continued into 2018, were initially concerning economic factors such as living standards and rising prices, but became critical of the regime more broadly, including the government’s interventions abroad.

More than 1,000 protesters were reportedly detained during these protests, although many were subsequently released, and Reuters reported a death toll of around 20 people, according to officials.

Iran’s government has been an Islamic republic since the Iranian revolution in 1979, which resulted in the toppling of the country’s monarchy.

We could not find credible reports of any such violent demonstrations taking place in Iran at the time of writing, although 40 people have reportedly been arrested in relation to a nationwide lorry driver strike. There were also reports of anti-Israel protests in Iran’s capital, Tehran, on 14 June following Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and other targets the previous day, in which senior Iranian military leaders were killed. There were no reports of violence at these protests.

The two countries have been launching air strikes at each other in subsequent days. According to the Israeli PM, 24 people have been killed in Israel by Iranian strikes. The non-profit organisation Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA) has said 452 people have been killed in Iran due to recent Israeli strikes.

Miscaptioned footage is a common type of misinformation we see online. We recently wrote about an old video of a drone attack in Kyiv that was shared as recent footage of the Israel-Iran airstrikes. It’s important to consider whether posts are sharing what they claim to before sharing them online—for tips on how to verify content before you share it, read our guide.

You can find more of our work writing about claims relating to the recent conflict between Israel and Iran on our website, as well as those concerning other global conflicts.