Recycled China explosion video misrepresented as Iranian strike on Israel
- Published on March 3, 2026 at 22:37
- 1 min read
- By AFP USA
Iran launched missiles at Israel after a largescale US-Israel attack killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but a clip social media users are claiming shows massive explosions in Tel Aviv has been mischaracterized. The footage comes from a 2015 chemical blast in Tianjin, China, the striking visuals of which are frequently misrepresented.
"THIS IS TEL AVIV. THANK YOU IRAN!" says a March 1, 2026 X post sharing the video.
In the clip, fiery explosions detonate and engulf high-rise buildings in an urban area as the person filming the incident exclaims in surprise. Similar claims also spread on Facebook and Instagram.
The United States and Israel triggered the rapidly spreading war on February 28 with strikes on Tehran that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei and several more senior Iranian figures, followed by days of air and missile raids aimed at weakening the remaining government.
Iranian forces responded with missile and drone attacks on US embassies and military bases -- and also on Israel, including security sites in Haifa, east Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, according to statements from Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
However, the explosion footage circulating on social media does not actually depict a strike on Tel Aviv.
Reverse image searches unearthed reports on a 2015 industrial explosion in Tianjin, China. At the time, the BBC published the eyewitness clip and reported that a warehouse in the city containing explosives caught fire and blew up.
AFP published additional angles of the blast, which killed 17 and left hundreds more injured.
The Tianjin incident is frequently mischaracterized. The same video of the blast was falsely misrepresented as Ukraine in 2022 at the beginning of Russia's invasion, and again in 2025 during another US-Israel operation in Iran.
Recent video reports from Al Jazeera and CNN covering the aftermath of a February 28, 2026 strike on Tel Aviv show crumpled buildings and scattered flames, but no dramatic fireball comparable to the Tianjin footage (archived here, here and here).
Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation on the war in the Middle East here.
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