Prop Money Bag Mistaken as Alleged Iranian Cash Shipped to Hezbollah
The Claim
a bag of money found with an Iranian diplomat at Beirut airport.
News posted on
Emerging story
After reports of Iranian diplomats refusing to have their bags scanned, an image of a money bag emerged on X. X users claimed that the image depicted a bag of money allegedly found with an Iranian diplomat at Beirut airport.
The image circulated after the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a note from the Embassy of Iran that the money in the bag was meant for embassy expenses. The image was shared on X to dispute the Iranian Embassy's explanatory note received by the Lebanese Ministry.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the viral claim and found it to be misleading.
The viral photo has no relation to the recent incident and the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants confirmed that the authorities found no such bags after inspecting Iranian diplomats.
A Photo of a Prop Money Bag Miscaptioned
Through reverse image search, Misbar’s team found the photo on ShareGrid, an American online platform that serves as a peer-to-peer rental marketplace for photographers, filmmakers, and others.
The platform posted the circulating image along with other photos from several angles, which proves that the circulating photo was taken from ShareGrid and has no relation to the money bag found with the Iranian diplomat at Beirut airport.
ShareGrid described the bag as 50% of the wads—the lower layer in the bag is paper, which could be ideal for creatives who want an actual bag of prop cash.
The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Dismisses Finding Moneybags Shipped to Hezbollah
In the late hours of Thursday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants announced it received a written explanatory note from the Embassy of Iran regarding the contents of two diplomatic bags.
The Ministry further said that the bag also contained documents and papers. The bags were accordingly allowed to enter in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.
Iranian Plane Held Up By Lebanon to Inspect
An Iranian diplomat arriving in Lebanon on a Mahan Air flight refused to have his bag inspected at Beirut airport. This occurred following reports suggesting the possibility of shipping money to Hezbollah on board an Iranian Mahan Air flight from Tehran.
The Lebanese government temporarily barred the diplomat from entering the country. Security instructions in Lebanon direct the inspection of the bags of all arrivals via electronic inspection devices without exception, issued by the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country.
Lebanese authorities warned that the Iranian diplomats would be deported if they continued to refuse bag inspections.
The plane eventually passed in the late hours of Thursday after the diplomats’ bags were searched. The search revealed that the bags did not contain anything unlawful.
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