Filipino netizens are circulating a news report about a helicopter crash that killed Iran’s president and his top officials. This needs context. The incident happened in 2024.
Since June 22, at least four Facebook (FB) users have posted a 2024 News5 report on the air crash in the East Azerbaijan province that killed former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi.
One of the posts bore the caption:
“Patay sa bumagsak na helicopter ang president ng Iran,kasama niyang nasawi ang kanilang foreign Minister (Iran president dies in a helicopter crash, along with their foreign minister).”
Another copy uploaded on June 24 carried the text:
“Patay sa bumagsak na helicopter ang president ng Iran. Sana sa pag kamatay maging ng leader ng IRAN maging maaus (sic) na (The president of Iran died in a helicopter crash. I hope that with his passing Iran’s leader will be better).”
The plane crash happened in May 2024. It is not a new development related to the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict this month.
The current president of Iran is Masoud Pezeshkian, who won the elections held after Raisi’s sudden passing.
News5Everywhere’s official YouTube channel uploaded the video on May 20, 2024.
According to Iran’s final report on the incident that killed Raisi, his former foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six other senior officials, the “complex climatic and atmospheric conditions” caused the aircraft to crash.
Filipino netizens resurfaced the old report amid the escalating tensions between Iran and Israel. On June 13, Israel launched attacks against Iran’s nuclear program, prompting Tehran to retaliate. On June 24, United States President Donald Trump said a ceasefire between Iran and Israel is now in effect.
According to the Philippine Embassy in Israel, at least eight Filipinos have been injured — one of them still in critical condition— due to Iran’s missile attacks.
VERA Files has debunked several mis- and disinformation about the conflict in the Middle East.
Copies of the video without proper context uploaded by three FB users and an FB page collectively garnered 20,854 reactions, 2,053 comments, 5,431 shares and 1,972,000 views.
