The Tehran Lights: An OSINT Investigation Into the Viral UFO Videos

A viral video of mysterious lights over Tehran has sparked UFO theories. OBC traced its origins, examined the footage—and found clues that helped pinpoint where it was filmed. 

A video reportedly filmed in Tehran surfaced online on 21 September 2026, prompting social media users to try to explain a series of unusual, colourful lights hovering over the Iranian capital. The footage, which some users claimed showed a UFO, quickly went viral, with speculation ranging from advanced US military technology to extraterrestrial objects attempting to make contact. Others linked the footage to the famous 1976 Tehran UFO incident, which occurred almost exactly 50 years earlier.

At the same time, several users questioned the authenticity of the footage, suggesting it could be AI-generated.

But is the video AI-generated? If not, who recorded it, and where was it filmed? What can the footage itself tell us about the object? And what actually happened during the reported UFO incident over Tehran in 1976?

OBC analysed the viral footage, traced its circulation and examined the available open-source evidence to investigate what can be established about the Tehran lights. This report presents our findings.

The hovering lights over Tehran

On 21 September, a video claiming to be from Tehran and showing a series of unusual, colourful lights in the night sky began attracting attention on social media. The footage shows what appears to be a curved formation of individual lights, including blue, white, green, and yellow.

The low-resolution footage does not clearly reveal the physical structure behind the lights, leaving viewers to speculate about what they were seeing.

The video was widely described as showing a UFO. One of the posts that helped amplify the footage was shared by the X account Interstellar (@InterstellarUAP) with the caption, “UFO reportedly spotted over Iran tonight.”

As of 22 September, the post had received 2.8 million views, 3,300 likes and 489 reposts.

As the video spread, social media users offered different explanations for the lights.

Some described them as UFOs or extraterrestrial objects, while others suggested they could be drones, aircraft, groups of drones, or illuminated kites.

The speculation was not limited to social media users. U.S. Representative Tim Burchett, who has publicly advocated for greater government transparency regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena, also commented on the footage during an appearance on The Benny Show, a weekday political and cultural talk show and podcast hosted by conservative commentator Benny Johnson.

After being shown the video, Burchett said, “It’s legit. It’s something up there. It’s just, what is it? We’re seeing more and more of this stuff.” Benny Johnson further questioned whether US President Donald Trump was messing with Iran. Tim Burchett stated, “It could be a psyop, like what Reagan did to the Russians with Star Wars.”

Some users also questioned whether the footage could have been generated using artificial intelligence.

Is the video AI-generated?

Offbeat Concerns investigated the viral video and found no discrepancies that suggested digital manipulation. The AI detection tool also showed no signs that the visuals had been generated using AI.

Who originally shared the video and when?

We identified that the earliest post carrying the viral video was shared by Ali Sedaghati (@AliiiiiSeda) on X at 2:31 am IST on 21 September.  The Persian caption states that the user had filmed the unidentified object from Azadegan Highway in Tehran on 29 Shahrivar, the Iranian calendar date corresponding to 20 September.

In his post, Ali Sedaghati stated that he had filmed “unknown celestial objects” and did not know what they were.

He reportedly described them as near the clouds, emitting unusual lights and hovering silently in the sky. He then asked users to share the footage so that others could see it. The post was accompanied by hashtags including #UFO, #NASA, #spaceship, #extraterrestrial, #Tehran and #Iran.

Ali Sedaghati also shared the video on his personal Instagram account on 21 September and his YouTube channel on 22 September.

Where was the video recorded?

We closely examined the viral video and found a few useful geolocation clues. First, the vehicles are travelling on a highway where traffic drives on the right. Second, a partially visible road sign containing Persian script appears in the frame. Furthermore, in one of the replies to his post, Ali Sedaghati indicated that he shot the video near the intersection of the Azadegan and Tondgooyan expressways.

Additionally, there are signboards in the viral footage. One has a straight arrow and blurry English text that appears to read “holy shrine”. The other signboard has a down-pointing arrow, and the Persian text appears to read “Imam Ali Highway”, thereby suggesting that vehicles must exit the Azadegan Expressway to reach Imam Ali Highway.

Based on the limited available evidence, we geolocated the video to an approximate location.

While talking to CNN Turk, Ali Sedaghati reiterated that he was travelling on his motorcycle on the Azedagan Expressway when he witnessed the unexplained lights in the sky.

The Tehran UFO from fifty years ago

September 2026 marks fifty years since one of the most widely documented UFO incidents associated with Tehran, which occurred on the night of 19 September 1976.

According to declassified US intelligence files, on 19 September 1976, which documented the Iranian military’s account of the 1976 encounter, two Imperial Iranian Air Force F-4 Phantom II jets were scrambled to intercept a brilliant, multi-coloured unidentified flying object spotted in the night sky over Tehran. As the aircraft approached the object, both pilots reportedly experienced sudden and total failure of their radar, communications, and weapons control systems, including during an attempted missile launch, with the systems returning to normal after they turned away. The encounter was also reportedly observed by civilian and military personnel on the ground and tracked by radar.

According to the declassified intelligence records, the object was described as having bright, rapidly flashing coloured lights and appearing roughly the size of a Boeing 707.

During the encounter, one of the pilots reported that a smaller object separated from the main object and moved towards his aircraft. When he attempted to fire an AIM-9 missile, his weapons and communications systems reportedly failed. The smaller object then moved away before returning towards the larger object. A helicopter was also sent to search the area after another was reportedly seen descending to the ground, but the search yielded no results.

However, the report does not establish that the object was of an extraterrestrial origin, a secret aircraft, a particular weapons system or any other specific technology.

In his 1983 book UFOs: The Public Deceived, US journalist and UFO sceptic Philip J. Klass argued that the object observed by the Iranian pilots could have been a ‘bright celestial body’. He also attributed the reported aircraft malfunctions to a pre-existing electrical problem with one of the F-4s and questioned the reliability of the reported radar lock-on. Klass further suggested that some of the rapidly moving lights reported during the incident could have been meteor fireballs. In contrast, a reported beeping signal near the supposed landing site could have had a conventional source. He concluded that the incident could be explained by a combination of conventional phenomena rather than an extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Unrelated visuals

On 21 September, the X account Iran Mil Updates (@tvir_X) posted a video claiming to offer a closer, clearer view of the recent UFO sighting over Tehran.

As of 22 September, the post had garnered 33,300 views, 1,200 likes and 232 reposts.

Several other social media users also shared the video, linking it to Tehran.

Upon performing a keyframe analysis of the video, we found that it predates the recent incident and shows another disputed UFO sighting, reportedly filmed on 4 November 1994 at the Nellis Air Force Range in Nevada, US, and leaked in 1995.

This establishes that the viral video is unrelated to the recent alleged UFO sightings in Tehran.

Are UFOs real?

According to NASA’s study on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) published in 2023, most reported UAP observations can be attributed to known phenomena, while a small number cannot be immediately identified. However, NASA notes that the available evidence is often insufficient to reach definitive conclusions about their nature or origin. The report also states that there is no conclusive evidence in peer-reviewed scientific literature suggesting that UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin.

The viral footage from Tehran has generated widespread speculation, but the available evidence does not establish that the object was extraterrestrial or linked to any secret military technology. Our analysis found no clear indication that the original video was AI-generated. At the same time, the earliest traceable post was shared by Ali Sedaghati, who said he had recorded the footage on the Azadegan Expressway in Tehran. The location claimed by the uploader is broadly supported by the road infrastructure and signage visible in the footage. However, the exact camera position is inferred from the available visual evidence.

At the same time, several unrelated visuals were circulated online as additional footage of the same incident, with keyframe analysis showing that at least one of these videos was actually footage from a different UFO case recorded in the United States in 1994.

The timing of the incident, almost 50 years after the famous 1976 Tehran UFO case, further fuelled speculation, but there is no evidence connecting the two events. What remains is a video showing unexplained lights over Tehran, while the claims surrounding what those lights were have gone far beyond what the available evidence can establish.

The Iranian government has not given any official clarification of the incident.