Claim: A video shows a Pakistani jet flying freely in Iran’s airspace.
Fact: Visual clues suggest the video is from Pakistan.
Pakistan-Iran tensions
In the early hours of 16 January, Iran launched an attack in Pakistan’s Balochistan province allegedly against the terrorist group, Jaish al-Adl, or the Army of Justice.
Pakistan condemned it as “unprovoked”, “illegal”, and “completely unacceptable” while claiming three civilian casualties. Iran denied this, insisting it targeted “Iranian terrorists”.
Tensions escalated as Pakistan recalled its ambassador, suspended visits, and advised Iran’s ambassador to stay away temporarily. Iran’s strike in Balochistan followed soon after their attacks in Iraq to target Israeli spies and in Syria against the Islamic State (IS).
In response, Pakistan conducted an operation striking a “number of terrorists” and “hideouts used by terrorist organisations namely, Balochistan Liberation Army [BLA] and Balochistan Liberation Front [BLF]” in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province. The attack resulted in nine casualties, as per media in Tehran.
During the operation ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar’, Pakistan used “killer drones, rockets, loitering munitions, and stand-off weapons”, according to its military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
After four days, both countries decided to de-escalate tensions through dialogue and diplomacy.
Fact or Fiction?
On 18 January, X (formerly Twitter) user @revolutionfarsi posted a video claiming that it shows Pakistani fighter jets flying in Iran’s airspace.
The tweet reads,
“Pakistani jets flying freely in low altitude in Iran’s skies, yet ayatollah regime is watching.
Poor Balochs always pay the price.”
Soch Fact Check found the claim to be false. We examined the video closely and found a signpost in blue, at the 0:01 mark of the clip that says “Lahore” in the Urdu script. However, based on the signpost, we cannot conclude whether the footage is from the city of Lahore itself. The footage could depict any area within Pakistani territory.
We also ascertained that the banner on a pole visible at the same mark has 23 written on it, most likely referring to 23 March which suggests that the video does not show Iran, but Pakistan.
Even though Soch Fact Check could not determine the exact origins of the video clip, the visual clues indicate that it depicts an area in Pakistan.
Virality:
Soch Fact Check found the video posted with the false claim on X by another user @balochcampaign, with a Persian caption. His tweet gained 1,434 views.
When translated into English, the caption reads, “The re-entry of a Pakistani army fighter 20 kilometers deep into Iranian soil
The violation of the airspace of the Islamic Republic by the Pakistani army continues while the only victims of the two countries’ missile attacks were Baloch women and children.”
The claim was also shared here on X.
Conclusion: The video in question is from Pakistan and does not show a Pakistani jet flying in Iran’s airspace.
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