Footage of parking lot fire in China falsely linked to Iran-Israel conflict

Published on June 20, 2025 at 11:03
Updated on June 20, 2025 at 12:25
3 min read
By AFP Thailand

After Iran launched missiles at Israel in retaliation for strikes on nuclear and military facilities, a video has circulated in social media posts falsely claiming it shows a fire that broke out at an Israeli base after Iran's attack. The clip actually shows a massive blaze at a motorcycle parking lot in China.

"Iran's fifth attack destroyed Israel's major military base," reads the Burmese-language post shared on June 14, 2025.

It shares a video with more than 25,000 views and shows people running away from a massive fire near a square.

Screenshot of the false post taken on June 18, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The posts emerged after Israel struck Iranian nuclear and military facilities with a barrage of missiles on June 13, killing several top officials and prompting a counter-attack by Iran (archived here and here).

The arch rivals have since exchanged attacks in their historical confrontation, fuelling fears of a drawn-out war that could engulf the Middle East.

The Israeli prime minister's office said on June 16 that at least 24 people have been killed and hundreds wounded by Iran's retaliatory strikes (archived link).

Iran said a day earlier that the Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.

The video has been shared with the same claim in Burmese, English, Thai, and Hindi.

But a combination of reverse image and keyword searches on Google found a video showing the same scene was published on the Chinese platform Xiaohongshu, known as RedNote in English, on June 12 (archived link).

"Electric scooters on fire in Jiulongpo in Chongqing," the clip's caption in simplified Chinese reads. "Electrical safety in the summer heat is really important."

Text on the video largely repeats the caption.

Screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the clip as seen on RedNote

Subsequent searches found that Chinese state outlet CGTN used the clip in a video report published on the same day about the fire (archived link).

Images of buildings in the area published by Chinese search engine Baidu also match those seen in the false clip (archived link).

Comparison of the building seen in the false video (left) and on Baidu Map

The local government said in a press release that the fire was extinguished after 20 minutes with no casualties (archived link).

AFP have previously debunked misinformation related to the Iran-Israel war here.

June 20, 2025This story was updated to replace geolocation.

June 20, 2025 This story was updated to replace geolocation.

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