By: Vivek J
January 19 2024
Old video shared as recent Iranian missile strikes on U.S. bases in Iraq
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Screenshots of the viral video purporting to show an Iranian missile attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. (Source:TikTok/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
Fact-Check
The Verdict False
This video is at least two years old. It reportedly shows an incident from January 2022 when the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was attacked.
Claim ID f0025707
What is the claim?
A video is being widely shared on TikTok claiming to show an IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) missile striking U.S. bases in Iraq. The text on the video claims that the missile was launched on January 15, 2024. An archived version of one such post can be found here. Similar posts were also shared on X (formerly Twitter) claiming to show IRGC missiles dodging U.S. air defense systems and hitting the target at a U.S. Embassy in Iraq. Archived versions of such posts from TikTok can be viewed here, here, and here, and archives of the X posts can be accessed here, and here.
The claim is going viral on social media at a time when Iran launched a strike on the Kurdish region in Iraq with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards stating that the target was an “Israeli spy headquarters.” On January 16 morning, Iran also launched similar strikes against alleged Islamic State targets in Syria.
Screenshots of the viral posts. (Source: TikTok/X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
However, the viral video is not of a recent attack.
What are the facts?
We conducted a quick reverse image search and found several X posts from January 2022 sharing the same video. These posts claimed to show rocket attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, and the U.S. C-RAM air defense systems engaging the incoming rockets. Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson shared a video of the same incident on January 13, 2022, with the caption, “Video purportedly showing rocket attack on U.S. embassy in Baghdad tonight, U.S. military’s C-RAM engaging.”
Screenshots of the 2022 posts with the same video. (Source: X/Screenshots)
We also came across a YouTube video uploaded by ‘WarLeaks-Military blog’ on January 14, 2022. The accompanying caption read, “C-RAM Responds To Missile Attack On US Embassy In Baghdads Green Zone.” This clip contained the same visuals as seen in the viral video.
Comparison of the viral video and visuals from the WarLeaks video from 2022. (Source: X/WarLeaks/Screenshot)
We also found multiple news reports about rocket attacks being directed at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad in 2022. A Reuters report dated January 14, 2022, quoting an Iraqi military statement noted that a child and a woman were wounded in a rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy. Iraqi military officials had told the news agency that two to three Katyusha rockets were fired at the U.S. Embassy. The Katyusha is a World War II-era Soviet rocket that is also used by the Iraqi militia.
CBS News and NBC News had also shared videos of the rocket attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad in January 2022.
At the time, U.S. had released a statement blaming ‘terrorist groups’ who were attempting to ‘undermine Iraq’s security, sovereignty, and international relations’ for the attack, according to a report by Al Jazeera.
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad also shared a post on X in Arabic on January 13, 2022, which, when translated to English read, “This evening, the US Embassy compound was attacked by terrorist groups seeking to undermine Iraq's security, sovereignty, and international relations. We have long said that these types of shameful attacks are an assault not only on diplomatic facilities but on the sovereignty of Iraq itself.”
The verdict
The video claiming to show IRGC missiles striking the U.S. Embassy in January 2024 has been on the internet for at least two years. This video reportedly shows an incident in January 2022, where rockets were fired at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.