Recently, amid the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict in the Middle East, a video has been circulated on social media with the caption:
“Breaking News:> Iran has arrested Jewish agents of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad! They had established a secret underground Israeli drone factory near Tehran. From there, attacks were carried out that disrupted Iranian security.”
See posts promoting this claim on Facebook here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive).
Fact Check
An investigation by the Rumor Scanner team found that the video being shared does not show the arrest of agents from the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad by Iran. Instead, it shows the arrest and interrogation of individuals accused of involvement in the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.
In this investigation, a video was found on the Turkish media outlet Medyascope’s YouTube channel, published on July 18, 2016 — watch it here. Visual similarities between this video and the one being circulated with the claim were clearly identified.
From the detailed description of the video, it is learned that former Air Force Chief Akın Öztürk and other suspects accused of involvement in the coup attempt were arrested and interrogated as part of the investigation. The video depicts scenes from that event.
A related report was also found on the website of British media outlet The Sun, dated July 19, 2016, titled “COUP KINGPINS Turkey parades coup ‘plotters’ as Merkel threatens EU ban over plan to execute them”. This report features the same video and information.
In the video in question, former Air Force Chief Akın Öztürk and other officials accused as masterminds of the coup are seen with their hands tied, being marched in front of the camera. Before being taken for interrogation, they were asked to state their names and ranks.
Conclusion
The claim that the video shows Mossad agents arrested by Iran is false – it is actually footage from 2016, showing the arrest and interrogation of individuals accused in Turkey’s coup attempt.
