An image showing a helicopter engulfed by fire has recently surfaced on social media site X(formerly Twitter) claiming to be of Iranian President Raisi & this picture was taken by the Chinese satellite.

A user on X namely Azhar Syed, editor-in-chief at paknews.co as per his X bio, shared this image and wrote: “The helicopter of the Iranian president started burning in the air, the pictures taken by the Chinese satellite were provided to the Iranian authorities” (Translated from Urdu)

Fact-Check

A reverse-image search of the viral image led us to the website istock where we found a similar image with the caption: “Ground view looking up at a helicopter exploding mid-air”. The image was uploaded on March 24, 2015.

Conclusion

It is evident from DFRAC’s Fact-Check that the viral image is from 2015, not captured by any Chinese satellite. Moreover, it is unrelated to the Iranian President Raisi’s helicopter crash.

Analysis: Misleading