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← All fact checksAfternoon run · November 2, 2026 · #3 by reach
ConflictTechnologyMiscaptioned media

Did Iran test a two-stage ICBM called "Rastakhiz" in this video?

Does a viral video show Iran testing a new two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile called 'Rastakhiz'?

Misleading

Real launch footage, false caption: this is Starship over Texas, not an Iranian missile.

No. The video is genuine but mislabelled. It shows SpaceX's Starship lifting off from Boca Chica, Texas, on 18 November 2023, filmed by spectators on a Mexican beach. No verified source confirms an Iranian ICBM test called "Rastakhiz", and the caption's 22-metre, 5-ton-warhead specifications are contradicted by published reporting.

+4Sources ↓Original post ↗
Genuine
The post as it circulated, labelled by our media check.Video · 0:07 · 720×1280

Claims

✕ 2 false

The video shows Iran testing a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile.1234

✕ FalseCentral claimHigh confidence

The decisive point is not a dated Iranian event but the identity of the rocket. Three independent strands place the footage at SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on 18 November 2023. Aaj Tak's fact-check found the clip in an Instagram post from that date, and The Quint traced it back to at least November 2023 as a Starship launch. Wire and agency coverage — AFP/EFE via TC Televisión and Getty/AFPTV footage — documented crowds at Playa Bagdad in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, watching that launch from a few kilometres away, which is exactly the beach-with-cars scene in the clip. These are independent of each other: the news agencies covered the launch as news, not as a fact-check, and the two fact-checks reached the same conclusion separately. Set against that, an Iranian ICBM test would be one of the most closely watched events in the world, confirmed by governments, weapons agencies and wire services. Nothing corroborates it, and the only sources are social reposts. The Spanish audio lines up too: spectators on the Mexican beach waited for the delayed sound and shockwave.

Still open: The post gives no date for the alleged Iranian test, so we cannot check any specific claimed launch date.

Iran is testing a two-stage ICBM called Rastakhiz.567

– UnverifiableModerate confidence

The name "Rastakhiz" does exist in the public record, but only as a claim. It appears in statements attributed to an Iranian lawmaker, Hosseinali Hajideligani, reported by The New Arab and The Times of India, and repeated in French outlet Capital.fr. None of those outlets verified the weapon; they reported that the claim had been made. Analysts quoted describe such boasts as propaganda. We found no statement from a government, the IAEA or a wire service confirming any Iranian ICBM test, and no independent confirmation of the Rastakhiz programme. That is why this claim is UNVERIFIABLE rather than FALSE: a lawmaker said it, and we cannot prove the system does not exist in some form. What we can say is that the video offered as proof is not Iranian. Readers should weigh the difference: an unevidenced claim repeated by outlets is still an unevidenced claim.

Still open: Whether Iran has any Rastakhiz programme at all, beyond a parliamentarian's statement, remains unconfirmed.

The missile is 22 metres long and capable of carrying a 5-ton nuclear warhead.56

✕ FalseHigh confidence

These numbers do not match any published description of the claimed weapon. Capital.fr describes the Rastakhiz as roughly 14 metres tall and 27 tonnes, with reporting pointing to a dual or electromagnetic-pulse warhead rather than a nuclear one. That is a different machine from the one in the caption on two counts: length and warhead type. The rocket in the video is even further off — the Starship and Super Heavy stack stands about 121 metres tall, roughly five times the length given. And the payload claim runs into a separate problem: Iran is not known to possess nuclear warheads, so a "5-ton nuclear warhead" describes a capability no source attributes to it. A reader should notice the pattern: the caption takes a real but vague claim and bolts on precise-sounding figures. Precision is not evidence. Here the specific figures are the part most easily checked, and they fail.

What was posted

X

A post on X shares a short vertical clip of a rocket lifting off at twilight, seen from a crowded beach where people stand beside parked cars and cheer. The Spanish audio has spectators shouting about the coming sound. The caption tells readers the footage shows an Iranian test of a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile.

“🚨 According to reports, Iran is testing a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile, called "Rastakhiz," which is 22 meters long and capable of carrying a 5-ton nuclear warhead.”

Posted from an account using the handle @ATLAS_PULSEe. No date, engagement figures or posting thread were recorded with the post. The caption names no outlet for its "reports".

Who posted it

X
@atlas_pulsee
View the account on X ↗

Account check

Looks like a genuine account10%
Likelihood of automation72%

Estimates from public signals — account age, posting pattern, audience — not a judgement of the person behind the account, and separate from whether this post is true.

What stood out

  • Live profile resolves to display name "Iran Press" with bio "Iranian affairs / The Middle East" and 7,113 posts — but the handle @ATLAS_PULSEe has no relation to that brand, the classic signature of a renamed/repurposed account (documented pattern in this account family: repeated username changes, disposable 'press' branding).
  • Handle and display name do not match any real outlet: Iran's state-affiliated Iran Press agency operates as @iranpress_news / iranpress.com. This account is unverified and makes no attribution to any actual newsroom or editor, so it borrows a state-media name without being it.
  • Naming pattern ('atlaspulsee', double-e suffix) matches the manufactured 'Press' persona family mapped by ShadowGraph Intelligence (July 2026): 21+ generic press/IRGC personas, batch-created, mutually amplifying, 'West Asia' placement, undisclosed operators, fabricated quotes laid over real videos.
  • The timeline embeds/quote-posts content from @GP_Presss — one of the accounts X suspended in the same sweep as that Iran-aligned network (per ShadowGraph, suspended 19 July 2026). Proximity to a suspended network node is a strong coordination signal.
  • Editorial style: '🚨 BREAKING' graphics, all-caps framing, emoji flag stacks, video-with-narration, no links to primary sources — engagement-optimised broadcast cadence (~7,100 posts) rather than sourced reporting.
  • Some underlying events are real and current (26 Oct 2026 Tehran talks with the Mecca Defence Alliance hosted by Mohsen Rezaei; 30–31 Oct strike on Qatari LNG carrier Al Mayeda), but the account adds unattributed spin — e.g. asserting Tehran deliberately 'targeted' the Qatari tanker when official reports say 'unidentified objects' with no confirmed perpetrator.
  • No platform verification, no follower/creation-date transparency, no masthead, no correction policy — none of the accountability markers of a genuine news organisation.
Signals (10)+
Posting cadence
Very high — 7,113 posts; event-driven 'breaking news' bursts
Follower ratio
Unknown (follower count not supplied/available)
Handle name mismatch
Handle 'atlas_pulsee' vs display name 'Iran Press' — indicates rename/repurposing
Impersonation risk
High — name collides with Iranian state-affiliated Iran Press agency (@iranpress_news)
Known affiliations
Amplifies/quotes @GP_Presss, suspended 19 Jul 2026 as part of a documented Iran-aligned coordinated network
Network pattern match
Generic press-brand persona, region-level bio, undisclosed operator, video-over-claim format
Content accuracy
Mixed — real news events used as scaffolding, with unsourced attribution and editorial spin
Notable news coverage
No coverage of this account found in reputable media or fact-checker databases
Fact check history
No direct fact-check record for this handle; the persona family it belongs to has been documented for fabricated quotes
Caveat
Supplied metrics (followers, creation date, recent posts) were empty; assessment relies on live profile retrieval and pattern matching, not on a confirmed operator identity

Account checked November 1, 2026, 14:47 UTC

The media

Video
GenuinePresented as real footage· The claim depends on it

✓ What is genuine

The footage itself: unedited bystander video of SpaceX's Starship lifting off, with real spectators reacting on a real beach.

The tells

  • ●●● Strong signal Detector scored the clip 0.99997 as not AI-generated, with deepfake probability at 0.0.our detector
  • ●●● Strong signal The beach lined with cars and spectators matches documented news footage and photos from Playa Bagdad on 18 November 2023.Getty/AFPTV via source 4 and AFP/EFE via source 3
  • ●●○ Supporting signal The Spanish shout about the sound arriving matches eye-witness accounts of spectators waiting for the launch's delayed sound and shockwave.our visual review and source 3
  • ●●○ Supporting signal A large multi-stage rocket lifting off at twilight over water is consistent with Starship launches seen from the Mexican side of the border.our visual review

Synthetic-media detector

Detector ran

The claim stands or falls on whether the media is real, so the detector ran.

AI-generated likelihood0%
Deepfake likelihood0%

Scores are the detector’s estimate for the file as uploaded. A low score does not rule out editing, a spliced caption, or footage shown out of context — those are judged above. Model v3.

How we checked the media

  • Checked keyframes from the clip against documented footage and reporting of the 18 November 2023 Starship launch from Boca Chica, Texas, filmed from Playa Bagdad, Mexico.
  • Compared the clip's scene and Spanish audio with first-hand accounts of spectators on that beach.
  • Ran the clip through our AI-generation detector (Hive v3), which returned a not-AI-generated score of 0.99997.

Sources

7 sources reviewed

Further reading

  • 1Aaj Tak The fact-check that traced this clip's keyframes to an 18 November 2023 Instagram post.
  • 2The Quint A second, independent fact-check reaching the same conclusion about the clip's origin.
  • 3TC Televisión (AFP/EFE) AFP/EFE reporting on the crowds at Playa Bagdad watching the launch, which explains the beach scene.
  • 5Capital.fr Useful for the actual published description of the claimed Rastakhiz and why analysts doubt it.

The full story

The clip is not a fake. It is a real launch, filmed by real people, and that is exactly why it travels so well.

On 18 November 2023, SpaceX's Starship lifted off from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. A few kilometres south, across the border, hundreds of people parked on Playa Bagdad near Matamoros, Tamaulipas, to watch. AFP/EFE and Getty/AFPTV both documented the scene. When a rocket that size climbs away, the sound reaches you late — which is why the people in the clip are shouting about the sound arriving.

Reposted years later without that context, the same 30 seconds becomes evidence for something else entirely. The caption supplies the missing details: a country, a weapon name, a purpose. Viewers see a big rocket rising over a watching crowd and the caption tells them what they are looking at.

The weapon name is not invented from nothing. "Rastakhiz" has been used by an Iranian lawmaker, Hosseinali Hajideligani, in statements reported by The New Arab and The Times of India and covered by Capital.fr — all of which describe the claims as unverified and, in Capital.fr's framing, largely propaganda. The real system discussed in those reports is about 14 metres and 27 tonnes with a reported EMP or dual warhead. The post keeps the name and swaps in bigger numbers.

That is what makes the post work: a real clip, a real name, and figures confidently stated. Each piece is plausible on its own. Put together with the wrong label, they point to a conclusion none of them supports.

Kernel of truth

Genuine footage of a large rocket launch, and a missile name that has circulated in unverified claims by an Iranian lawmaker.

Timeline

  1. November 18, 2023

    SpaceX's Starship launches from Starbase, Boca Chica, Texas; crowds watch from Playa Bagdad in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and footage of the scene circulates from at least 18-20 November 2023. 3TC Televisión (AFP/EFE)

  2. June 19, 2025

    Aaj Tak Fact Check publishes a fact-check identifying the clip as the Starship launch, not an Iranian missile. 1Aaj Tak

  3. 2026

    The name "Rastakhiz" is used by Iranian lawmaker Hosseinali Hajideligani in unverified claims about Iranian missiles. 6The New Arab

  4. 2026

    The Starship clip recirculates with a caption claiming it shows an Iranian Rastakhiz ICBM test.

How it was framed

False contextMisleading content

Genuine, unmanipulated footage is presented with a false backstory that changes what it shows. The caption also dresses an unverified missile claim in precise-sounding specifications, steering readers toward a conclusion the evidence does not support.

  • “Visual proof”. The caption is attached to a dramatic launch video, inviting readers to treat the footage as the evidence for the words.
  • Borrowed authority. "According to reports" attributes the claim to unnamed sources without naming any outlet, agency or document.
  • Unsourced statistic. "22 meters long and capable of carrying a 5-ton nuclear warhead" gives exact figures with no source.
  • Ongoing-threat framing. A nuclear-armed ICBM test presented without date or location, as an unstated but present danger.
  • Emotional language. The caption opens with a 🚨 warning emoji, signalling urgency.

Posted on X by the account @ATLAS_PULSEe. The post names no outlet, agency or document behind its "reports", and gives no date for the alleged test. No engagement figures or posting thread were recorded.

Bias

NoneSlightModerateStrong

Leans alarmist anti-Iran. An anonymous aggregator-style account pairs dramatic but unverified Iranian weapons specifications with unrelated launch footage, producing a fear-amplifying weapons scare without caveat or sourcing.

Bias describes how the post frames its message — the slant of the language, selection and emphasis — and is judged separately from whether the claim is true. A true claim can still be framed with a strong slant.

How we checked

52 s
  1. 1

    Searched for any report of an Iranian ICBM test or a weapon called Rastakhiz.

  2. 2

    Searched for prior fact-checks and reporting on this specific clip, which led to Aaj Tak and The Quint.

  3. 3

    Checked keyframes and scene details against agency footage and reporting of the 18 November 2023 Starship launch filmed from Playa Bagdad, Mexico.

  4. 4

    Compared the caption's claimed specifications with published descriptions of the claimed Rastakhiz system.

  5. 5

    Ran the video through our AI-generation detector, which returned a not-AI-generated score of 0.99997.

✓ Claim checked✓ Media checked✓ Sources checked

Why 90% confidence

High

HIGH: three independent strands — two fact-checks and original agency footage dated to the launch — converge on the same identification, and the detector rules out synthesis. The Rastakhiz claim itself sits at MODERATE because the only trace is a lawmaker's statement, so we can neither confirm nor fully rule out a programme.

Limits. We could not open any pages during this check; our source evidence rests on the search results and snippets recorded. The post gives no date for the alleged Iranian test, so there is no specific claimed launch to examine.

What we don’t know

  • Whether Iran has any Rastakhiz programme at all beyond a parliamentarian's statements.
  • Who first attached the Iranian-missile caption to this footage, and when.
  • Whether the account that posted it knew the clip was a Starship launch.

Spot it yourself

Spot the fake

Looks suspicious, isn’t proof

  • An anonymous account with a dramatic, all-caps-style handle. Who posted it matters for how much trust to extend, but it proves nothing about the footage either way.
  • The alarm emoji and "According to reports" phrasing. Urgency and vagueness are reasons to look closer, not evidence of fakery.
  • A vertical, slightly shaky phone video with Spanish shouting. Low production quality often reads as "authentic", but polished fakes and rough real clips both exist.

The actual evidence

  • Agency footage from AFP/EFE and Getty/AFPTV dated 18 November 2023 shows the same beach scene for the Starship launch — a dated, independent match.
  • Two separate fact-checks had already traced this exact clip to November 2023 and to SpaceX.
  • Our AI detector scored the clip 0.99997 as not AI-generated, so the question was never whether the video was fake but what it showed.
  • Published descriptions of the claimed Rastakhiz give about 14 metres and 27 tonnes, not 22 metres and a 5-ton nuclear warhead.
  1. 1

    Ask who would be reporting this if true

    A nuclear-capable ICBM test by Iran would be confirmed by governments, the IAEA and every major wire service within hours. Search a wire service directly; if the only trace is social reposts, that is telling.

  2. 2

    Check the scene, not just the rocket

    Look at the background. Crowds, cars and a beach are details that can be matched to news coverage of a specific event, as agency footage of Playa Bagdad did here.

  3. 3

    Do a reverse image search on a frame

    Pause the clip, screenshot a clear frame of the launch, and run it through a reverse image search. This is how both fact-checks found the November 2023 origin.

  4. 4

    Test the numbers against real reporting

    Search the weapon's name and compare its published size and payload with the caption's. Exact figures with no source are the easiest part to check.

Takeaway

A video can be completely real and still be used to prove something false. Check what the footage shows and when, before you check whether it was faked.

Questions people ask

Does the video show an Iranian missile test?+

No. The footage shows SpaceX's Starship lifting off from Boca Chica, Texas, on 18 November 2023. Spectators filmed it from Playa Bagdad in Matamoros, Mexico, a few kilometres away. Two fact-checks and dated agency footage all place the clip at that launch, not at any Iranian test.

What is the Rastakhiz missile?+

Rastakhiz is a name used in unverified claims by Iranian lawmaker Hosseinali Hajideligani about an Iranian missile, reported by outlets including The New Arab and The Times of India. Published descriptions put it at roughly 14 metres and 27 tonnes with a reported EMP or dual warhead. No government or agency has confirmed it.

Is the video AI-generated or edited?+

No. Our AI-generation detector scored it 0.99997 as not AI-generated, with a deepfake score of 0.0. The footage is ordinary bystander video. The deception is in the caption, which gives real footage a false backstory, not in the video itself.

Why would an Iranian ICBM test be easy to verify?+

A test of a nuclear-capable intercontinental missile would be picked up by governments, weapons-monitoring agencies and wire services almost immediately, and reported worldwide. When a claim of that scale leaves no trace outside social media reposts, that absence is itself evidence worth weighing.

How can I tell if a launch video is being mislabelled?+

Screenshot a clear frame and run a reverse image search. Check whether news agencies covered the event at that location on that date. And read the caption's specifics: named sources, dates and locations are what a genuine report has and a mislabelled repost usually lacks.

Go deeper

Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)
A long-range missile designed to carry a warhead thousands of kilometres, typically between continents.
False context
When genuine, unaltered content is shared with incorrect information about where, when or what it shows.
Reverse image search
A tool that finds other places an image or video frame has appeared online, helping trace its origin.
EMP warhead
A warhead designed to disable electronics with an electromagnetic pulse rather than destroy with an explosion.
AI-generation detector
A tool that estimates whether an image, video or audio clip was produced by artificial intelligence.

People also search for

Iran Rastakhiz missile test videoRastakhiz two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile 22 meters 5-ton warheadIran ICBM launch video Mexico beach carsStarship launch mistaken for Iranian missilevideo misil iraní Rastakhiz lanzamiento
For educators+
False context: genuine media paired with a false backstoryThe difference between media authenticity and claim accuracySourcing: why "according to reports" without a named outlet is weak evidenceVerification of absence: what it means when a major event leaves no official trace
  • If the video is completely real, why is the post still misleading? What exactly is false?
  • The caption gives precise figures — 22 metres, 5 tons. Does precision make a claim more credible? What should you check instead?
  • If this were a real Iranian ICBM test, who would be reporting it, and how quickly? What does the silence tell you?

About this check

Platform
X
Posted by
@atlas_pulsee
Posted
November 1, 2026
Age when checked
Under 24 hours old when checked
Where it spread
IR, United States, Israel
Audience
International audience
Language
EN
Status
● Post is live
Verified
November 2, 2026, 15:42 UTC
Published
November 2, 2026, 15:42 UTC

Reach. Shared by several X accounts and Facebook reels in English and Arabic; 101 likes on primary (X syndication, 2 Nov)

This verdict was generated with AI from the sources shown. AI can make mistakes — check the sources before relying on it.

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