Old Photos Shared as Recent Military Base Fire in Western Iran
The Claim
A picture shows a fire that broke out at a military base in western Iran on February 14.
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Emerging story
According to various websites and social media accounts, a picture purporting to show a fire that started on Monday, February 14, at a military base in Kermanshah, western Iran, has recently gone viral. Several verified accounts also shared the image.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the circulating claim and discovered that it is misleading; the photo is not of the fire that broke out on Monday, February 14, at a military base in Kermanshah province's Mahidasht district, western Iran. The image is out of date, having been published on July 28, 2020, as a fire that broke out in a fuel storage facility in Dowlatabad town, Kermanshah. The explosion of fuel-laden trucks started the fire.
The photo was taken at the time by the Iranian news agency ISNA.
Description: Images of the trucks which exploded and caught on fire in July 2020.
The circulating claim coincides with the fire outbreak this morning, February 14, for unknown reasons, in a warehouse containing engine oils and flammable materials at one of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' support bases in Kermanshah province, western Iran, in the Mahidasht area. There were no reported injuries, according to Reuters. While the fire did occur, the image in the claim depicts a fire that broke out in a fuel storage facility in the industrial area of Dowlatabad town in Kermanshah on July 28, 2020, so Misbar confirms the claim as misleading.
Translated by Dina Faisal
