Don't be fooled by this video claiming to show Iran downing Israeli fighter jets

In mid-June 2025, after Israel launched deadly attacks on Iran, a video (archived) circulated online claiming to show Iranian forces shooting down Israeli F-35 fighter jets.

(X user @Johny_boy_143)

The claim circulated on X (archived), Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and TikTok (archived).

According to the Iranian Army, the country's armed forces downed (archived) two Israeli fighter jets on June 13 and another (archived) on June 14. The condition of the pilots of the June 13 planes was unknown (archived), the army said. The Iranian Army arrested (archived) the pilot of the June 14 plane, according to the army's Telegram channel.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) international spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, however, called (archived) reports that Iran downed two Israeli army jets "Fake News" on June 14.

Though it remained unconfirmed at the time of this writing whether Iran had shot down any Israeli fighter jets — and, if so, whether these were F-35 aircraft — it was clear that this specific footage was miscaptioned and did not show the alleged downing.

The footage circulated (archived) as early as May 18, 2025, nearly a month before Israel launched attacks on Iran. Additionally, versions of the footage from May and early June included the word "sim" or "simulation" in the title or caption, indicating the footage was not authentic. Though the origin of the footage remained uncertain at the time of this writing, it was clear from the early postings it did not show Israeli fighter jets on June 13 or 14.

The IDF referred us to Shoshani's X post when asked about the reported loss of Israeli fighter jets and declined to comment on what type of planes the Israeli Air Force used. According to Lockheed Martin, which produces the F-35, Israel was the first foreign nation to purchase the planes in 2010. We reached out to the government of Iran for authentic evidence of the downed jets and the reportedly arrested pilot and await a reply.

A spokesperson for Eagle Dynamics, whose Digital Combat Simulator World (DCS World) program users credited as the origin of the miscaptioned footage, said via email that its simulator could create "very realistic aerial combat scenes." However, the spokesperson said, Eagle Dynamics could not confirm whether the circulating footage came from DCS World.

According to video captions, the footage showed the fictional/simulated downing of two Russian-made Sukhoi Su-57 fighter jets. An aircraft with the same white/dark markings as seen in Russian pictures of the Su-57 can be seen at 00:45 in the footage. The F-35, by contrast, is delivered from the factory uniformly gray, a color that the Israeli Air Force largely kept, according to Lockheed Martin's website.

Snopes has also reported on an image falsely claiming to authentically show the wreckage of an Israeli F-35 fighter jet.