Fact Check: Old image of exploded iPhone falsely linked to recent device explosions in Lebanon

Hyderabad: Amid heightened tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, a series of explosions involving Hezbollah’s communication devices rocked Lebanon on September 17-18. Pagers exploded on the first day, killing 12 and injuring thousands, followed by walkie-talkies detonating the next day, killing 20 and injuring over 450.

In this context, an image of an exploded iPhone has been circulating with the claim that it was detonated by Israel, sparking fears that Israel could remotely explode iPhones anywhere in the world.

A Threads user shared the image and wrote, “You don’t have to be in Lebanon for the Israelis to blow up your iPhone.”

An X user shared the image and wrote, “You don’t have to be in Lebanon for the Israelis to blow up your iPhone: you could be in a British Airways plane or a school…” (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim is false as the image is from 2021.

We went through the comments on the X post and found a user who pointed out that the image was from Egypt in 2021. They also said that no iPhone in Lebanon was affected on September 17-18. (Archive)

We also conducted a keyword search and found no credible reports of iPhone explosions in Lebanon. Upon conducting a reverse image search, the photo in question was found on an X account, Clash Report, shared on September 18. The post stated that no iPhones had exploded in Lebanon and that the image was old and unrelated. (Archive)

Another X user, Tal Hagin, an OSINT analyst specialising in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, also posted the image on the same day, further clarifying that the photo was old and unconnected to recent events. (Archive)

Both accounts based their clarification on a report published by Cairo 24 in March 2021, which included the same image. According to the report, Ahmed Okasha, the owner of the iPhone, plugged the device into an electrical socket when it exploded.

The explosion caused the table and a nearby pillow to catch fire, almost reaching Ahmed’s sleeping child. When the child woke up and attempted to flee, he fell and broke his arm. Ahmed managed to extinguish the fire and rushed his child to the hospital for treatment. Later, he filed a police report, accusing Apple of negligence, noting that the phone was less than a month old.

Hence, we conclude that the image does not show an iPhone targeted in the recent wave of explosions of communication devices in Lebanon. The claim is false.