A video that has gone viral on social media purportedly shows an Iranian journalist reporting in front of flames rising from a burning oil depot as the military confrontation between the United States, backed by Israel, and Iran continues.
Notably, Israeli jets struck three Iranian oil depots on Saturday, the Iranian semi-official Fars news agency said. This was the first known attack on the Islamic Republic’s oil facilities. Follow Iran-US war live updates here.
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Videos shared online showed huge fireballs and thick smoke billowing into the sky after the strikes hit Tehran and the nearby city of Karaj.
Iranian journalist reports in front of flames
The viral video purportedly shows the Iranian journalist reporting near a massive blaze at an oil depot in Iran that was struck during US-Israeli attacks. HT could not independently confirm the authenticity of the video.
A rough translation of the report, originally in Persian, was provided by Grok: “Hello dear viewers. When they claim we’re building a military base, this is the fuel station for northeast/east Tehran. Setting it ablaze disturbs the public-they don’t need an army. Gas is for the people so ambulances run smoothly…It’s not a military base. No official base here; it’s for gasoline, fire engines, ambulances. Ignore foreign media saying otherwise. This civilian site in Tehran was targeted.”
The video has received nearly 2 million views on X and over 70,000 likes on the social media platform.
Entrepreneur and social media influencer Mario Nawfal also shared the clip on his X account and wrote: “We almost posted this video, but hesitated thinking its AI As unbelievable as it is, this video seems to be real!”
Sky turns black, acid rain in Iran after oil depots hit
Residents in Tehran woke up to a sky covered in thick black smoke and acid rain clouds after Israeli airstrikes set fire to major fuel depots that serve one of the Middle East’s largest cities.
Several videos shared on social media show large fires lighting up the skyline in the west, south and north of the city.
“You can see that the rain, the rainwater is actually black – also saturated, it appears, with oil,” CNN’s Fred Pleitgen said while reporting from the capital.
He also shared a video from the Shahran oil depot in northwestern Tehran showing heavy smoke rising from the site. The facility had also been targeted during Israel’s military strikes on Iran last June.
Earlier on Sunday, Iran’s Red Crescent Society issued a statement asking residents not to step outside due to high levels of toxic pollution following the strikes on the fuel depots.
It warned of possible lung and skin disease caused by acid rain. It also advised people not to go outside even after the rain stops, saying the evaporation could continue to release high levels of toxic substances into the air.
With inputs from agencies