'Iranian military' X account sparks huge concern after reaching one million followers

In the days following Israel's decision to launch a series of military strikes on Iran - dubbed 'Operation Rising Lion' - you may have noticed a number of concerning posts from alleged Iranian military accounts flooding onto your timeline.

"Everyone will feel it," read one ominous X post from @IRIran_Military, which received over 105 million views at the time of writing, while a second post saying 'we didn't initiate it' had 127 million views.

The comments are often accompanied by images and videos showing missile barrages on what the account claims to be Tel Aviv and other cities across Israel.

Given the volatile nature of the conflict and the concerning possibility of Iran and Israel's tit-for-tat strikes turning into a wider war, waking up to a barrage of posts containing the above messages is likely to be concerning – but is the Iranian military really engaging in online warfare?

Viral 'Iranian military' X posts explained

At first glance, an account which has blue tick verification, over one million followers and the country's flag as its display photo may seem like a source you could trust.

And it would appear that several people are doing just that, with replies to several of the account's viral posts including responses such as 'The Iran Military twitter account making a war phonk edit was not on my 2025 bingo card' and 'This is black mirror'.

The only suggestion that accounts such as @IRIran_Military and similar aren't actually affiliated to the actual Iranian government is the inclusion of the phrase 'Commentary account' and what appears to be a small joker mask emoji.

Click the link and you're taken to a page where X explains that while it is account usage rules to impersonate or mislead followers 'compliant Parody, Commentary, and Fan (PCF) accounts' are allowed if their purpose is to 'discuss, satirise or share information'.

Which suggests the account isn't technically breaking any rules, ethics of misleading people about war aside.

X has also recently expanded its verification checkmarks to include grey and gold alongside the traditional blue.

In the days of pre-Elon Musk Twitter, all you needed to do to check your information was coming from a legitimate account was look out for a blue tick.

But with the paid verification system, it's gold (business or media organisations) or grey (government accounts) which you need to look out for.

The appearance of a blue checkmark now means nothing more than a user who pays for the privilege of an X account.

Social media and disinformation, a long history

This isn't the first time which parody accounts have fallen foul of impersonating actual government organisations either.

In 2019, the platform removed thousands of accounts sharing 'a range of false personas to target conversations about political and social issues in Iran'' over concerns users would attempt to spread misinformation ahead of elections at the time, per The Guardian.

Meanwhile in 2021, the platform removed an account supposedly attributed to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei after it called for an attack on President Donald Trump during his first administration.

The message, translated from Farsi, included phrases such as 'they must take revenge any time possible' and 'vengeance is inevitable'.

After a series of complaints, the account was later removed and permanently suspended for impersonating a world leader (via Sky News).

Iran isn't the only country impacted by fake accounts either, with an investigation conducted by BBC Arabic (via Middle East Eye) revealing numerous accounts spreading misinformation in Syria after the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad, leading to sectarian violence across the country.