Altered images: Iran launch photos 'doctored'

Iranian scientists are working flat out to master the intricacies of nuclear and missile technology. Less successful so far are Iranian attempts to master Photoshop.

Someone in Iran decided the country’s missile test on Wednesday had not gone as well as hoped, or, at least, did not look as exciting as they had wanted.

Undismayed, he—or she—opted to alter the historical record by adding an extra missile. Sepah, a news agency run by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, distributed a picture of four missiles being launched in the desert on Wednesday.

The picture was plucked from its website by Agence France-Presse and appeared on the front pages of papers around the world.

But sharp-eyed bloggers noticed that part of the smoke trails from the two centre missiles were identical, as were clouds of ground disturbance on the third and fourth missiles. Sepah withdrew the picture from its site on Wednesday and on Thursday published the original, showing three missiles being successfully launched.

The original shows a fourth missile sitting on its launch platform, having apparently failed to go off.

AFP said it had withdrawn the picture from circulation because the fourth missile “has apparently been added in digital retouch to cover a grounded missile that may have failed during the test”. - guardian.co.uk