By Al-Fassel | 2025-06-24

According to fact-checkers and aviation experts, images circulating online that claim to show downed Israeli F-35 fighter jets amid the current conflagration between Israel and Iran are AI-generated fakes riddled with obvious flaws.

As Israeli airstrikes pummeled Iranian nuclear and missile facilities in an assault that began June 13, Iranian state media claimed Iranian air defenses had shot down multiple Israeli F-35 stealth fighters.

The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) initially reported that two Israeli F-35s had been downed, later claiming a third.

Iranian officials also alleged that an Israeli pilot had been captured, though no credible evidence has been provided, Techarp reported June 15.

Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee denounced the claims, saying reports of an Israeli F-35 being shot down are "completely baseless" and "false."

Aviation experts and fact-checkers quickly identified multiple telltale signs that the images were artificially generated, refuting purported "photographic evidence" circulated by Iranian media and on social media accounts.

Digital deception

The most glaring issue with the falsified images is the aircraft's impossible scale, experts said, noting that the purported F-35 appears roughly 10 times larger than its true size when compared to the people visible in the photographs.

Additional inconsistencies include crude digital manipulation of Israeli symbols, with a Star of David awkwardly photoshopped onto the aircraft's side.

Military experts noted that the vertical stabilizer faces the wrong direction for an F-35, and the engine appears to still be running, which is highly unlikely for a crashed aircraft in the condition shown.

The images also show people casually gathered around what would be extremely dangerous wreckage containing potentially unexploded ordnance, they noted.

This is a scenario that would never occur without extensive military cordoning and specialized recovery teams, they said.

Fact-checkers also weighed in on inauthentic video footage claiming to show Iran shooting down Israeli fighter jets, noting that the footage circulated online weeks before Israel launched attacks on Iran on June 13.

The Iranian regime's propaganda push appears designed to counter its losses amid the Israeli strikes, which targeted key military and nuclear infrastructure and significantly weakened Ali Khamenei's regime, analysts said.