Iranian state television admits broadcasting ‘unreliable’ information during Israeli offensive in June

MADRID, December 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The director of Iranian public television IRIB, Peyman Jebelli, said Tuesday that the channel’s reports about the downing of at least one Israeli Air Force F-35 plane during the Twelve Day War last June “were not reliable.”

Asked about the issue during a meeting with students in which he defended “the narrative” and IRIB’s coverage of the race, Jebelli said, “I wish this question didn’t come up now so I wouldn’t have to say it,” according to the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA).

“What tarnished our credibility was the shooting down of the F-35,” he continued, without giving more information on the incident or specifying a precise date, while, during the conflict, the Iranian authorities announced the shooting down of up to five of these aircraft.

However, Jebelli acknowledged an error in the coverage of the network he runs. “Were we in the sky to witness the fighter crash? Were we behind the defense system?” he asked rhetorically before justifying that “someone from the military authorities” had informed them. “Then, for some reason, they realized the information was unreliable,” he added.

The director of the IRIB thus explained the treatment of information given by Iranian public television during the so-called twelve-day war, triggered by the Israeli offensive, in which the United States joined with bombings against three Iranian nuclear installations, in full contact between Washington and Tehran to try to reach a new nuclear agreement.

These efforts were suspended due to the conflict, during which Iranian forces, for their part, launched hundreds of missiles and drones against Israeli territory.