Iran is mocked over billboard wrongly featuring Israeli soldiers

Iran is mocked over billboard wrongly featuring Israeli soldiers to mark the Iran-Iraq war (and they cropped out a woman)

  • The billboard was put up in a square in Shiraz last week to mark the Iran-Iraq war
  • But locals spotted the soldiers depicted in the billboard were actually Israeli 
  • Shiraz’s council leader has ordered a probe to determine how mistake occurred 

A billboard that went up in Iran sparked a backlash after it emerged it used a picture of Israeli soldiers – and cropped out a woman who was in the original image.

The billboard was put up in a square in central Shiraz to mark the 1980-1988 war between Iran and Iraq last week, the BBC reports.

The image depicted the backs of three male soldiers standing atop a rocky hill and looking out onto clouds.

But Iranians quickly realised that the soldiers were wearing Israeli uniforms and wielding M16 rifles.

The billboard was put up in a square in Shiraz last week to mark the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war

Many took to Twitter with pictures of the billboard and the original image – which had a female soldier standing next to the three male soliders.

‘I felt burnt when I saw this billboard in the middle of Sacred Defence Week,’ one Twitter user wrote.

‘M16 guns, straps, clothes, hat on their soldiers: all of these belong to Zionists. In the best case scenario, I can say you did something idiotic.’

The Israeli foreign ministry’s Persian Twitter account also mocked the mistake.

The billboard depicted the backs of three male soldiers standing atop a rocky hill 

The billboard depicted the backs of three male soldiers standing atop a rocky hill 

It later emerged that the photo used was actually of Israeli soldiers - and a woman had been cropped out

It later emerged that the photo used was actually of Israeli soldiers – and a woman had been cropped out

In a tweet, they said that Iranians had posted images showing the billboard was taken down on Wednesday night.

Seyyed Ahmad Dastgheyb, the council leader in Shiraz, ordered an investigation into how the error occurred, according to local media.

He said officials if it was confirmed that an image of soldiers from the ‘usurper Zionist regime’ were used, those responsible would be punished in the harshest manner.

Iran’s leaders do not believe the state of Israel has a right to exist and believe the land should belong to Palestinians.

 

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