Old videos of parachute landings misrepresented as US airman in Middle East war
- Published on April 13, 2026 at 11:08
- 4 min read
- By Akshita KUMARI, Grace MOON, AFP India, AFP South Korea, AFP Middle East & North Africa
After Iran claimed in April 2026 that it had brought down a US warplane, old videos of parachutists circulated on social media with false claims in multiple languages that they showed the affected pilot. One of the clips was actually taken in Libya during a military training, while the other shows a Bangladeshi paraglider who accidentally landed at a closed airport in Pakistan.
"Fighter jet pilot captured by Iran?" reads a Korean-language X post shared on April 5, which includes an emoji of the American flag.
The attached clip shows a person landing as others run towards him.
Another video showing a person with his hands up walking towards another was shared on Facebook on April 3. The post's Hindi-language caption similarly claims it shows the pilot of a US fighter jet being captured by Iranian troops.
Iranian forces shot down a US F-15 fighter jet on April 3, with the jet's two-person crew -- one pilot and a weapons system operator -- ejecting and landing in different locations inside Iranian territory and prompting a high-risk rescue mission (archived link).
Top US military officer General Dan Caine said the jet's two crew members were recovered and "back in friendly territory" after 50 hours of high-risk operation (archived link).
It was the first crewed American warplane shot down over Iran in more than five weeks of combat -- days before the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire (archived link).
The US military said on April 12 it would begin a blockade of all Iranian ports after talks between the warring sides in Pakistan collapsed (archived link).
The false clips have spread on various social media platforms and languages. However, they are not linked to the Middle East war.
Military exercise in Libya
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the first false clip found another video showing the same scene, shared by Libyan outlet Fawasel Media on X on March 2 (archived link).
Its caption says it shows a soldier performing a parachute jump despite having a broken leg, as others receive him upon landing.
Other outlets also published videos of the landing filmed from another angle (archived link).
AFP found another video showing the scene shared on March 1 by Facebook user Wisi Al-Tira, who said in the caption that he successfully completed a parachuting course (archived link).
He told AFP he is the person in the video, identifying himself as Issa Ali Issa al-Tira and a member of the Libyan military. He went on to say he "suffered a broken leg during the parachute training" and that his fellow soldiers helped him land.
Paraglider in Pakistan
A separate reverse image search on Google found a high-resolution version of the second video shared on Facebook on May 7, 2025. Its Urdu-language caption says it shows a parachutist landing at Chitral airport in northern Pakistan two days earlier (archived link).
The footage circulated as India and Pakistan exchanged deadly jet fighter, missile, drone and artillery attacks before a surprise ceasefire in May 2025 brought the fighting to an end (archived link).
The Facebook post also says the video circulated with a false claim that the person is an Indian pilot, but that there is "no truth" to the assertion.
AFP geolocated the Chitral airport in Pakistan, matching the video with similar visuals of a mountain, utility poles and fence available on Google Maps (archived link).
A separate reverse image search led to a post sharing the video on Instagram and Facebook on March 24, 2026 by a user with the handle "riad.khan.bd" who identified himself as the parachutist in the clip (archived here and here).
He said in the posts he was held at gunpoint by Pakistani guards after landing inside a military airport by accident, but was later released after they checked his documents. He did not share what happened until he came across posts months later that baselessly said he was an Indian pilot captured in Pakistan.
A review of his account also shows he regularly uploads videos of himself paragliding. He did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the Middle East war.
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