As part of a week of remembrance for Iranian soldiers who died in the Iran-Iraq war, a billboard was posted in the city of Shiraz, honoring Iranian troops.
But oops, the original photo was of four IDF soldiers, one a female soldier who was photoshopped out of the billboard.
Here is the original photo:
Iranian authorities have detained three people after a billboard accidentally featuring Israeli soldiers was erected in the south of the country amid its annual commemoration of the Iran-Iraq War, Iran’s semi official ISNA news agency reported on Friday.
The image, which was photoshopped to remove the female officer, shows the backs of three male Israeli soldiers overlooking a hillside. It appeared next to a quote from poet Ali Moalem Damghani which commemorates “martyrs” from previous wars.
After it was put up in a square in the city of Shiraz earlier this week, Iranians began to notice that the troops were wearing Israel Defense Forces (IDF) uniforms and were armed with M16 rifles, which the Iranian military do not use.
Outrage began to pour in as the photo circulated across social media.
“I felt burnt when I saw this billboard in the middle of Sacred Defence Week,” said one Twitter user wrote in Farsi referring to the official name for the weeks long remembrance of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War which is often marked by military parades.
“M16 guns, straps, clothes, hat on their shoulders; all of these belong to Zionists. In the best case scenario I can say you did something idiotic,” the user continued….
According to the BBC citing local Iranian media, on Thursday morning the head of Shiraz city council Seyyed Ahmad Dastgheyb ordered cultural officials to undertake an investigation into the incident.
If it was confirmed a picture of soldiers of the “usurper Zionist regime” had been used, he said and said it would be “necessary to deal seriously with those responsible”.
