The four Iranian missiles blasting off in unison sure looked impressive in a photo that appeared on July 9. They should have. The photo was digitally altered.

The blog Little Green Footballs (LGF) spotted the digital fakery that same day. One missile that had apparently failed to launch had been removed and replaced with a faked composite made from images of the other missiles and smoke trails.

In a “corrective refile” note to its editors, Agence France Press stated that the four-missile image released by Sepah News, the public relations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, had been “digitally altered to show four missiles rising into the air instead of three during a test-firing.” It added, “the second right missile has apparently been added in digital retouch to cover a grounded missile that may have failed during the test.”

In a July 10 post, “Reality vs. Photoshop,” LGF cites another blog, Kamangir, which says another recently released Iranian photo appears to have actually been taken two years ago.

In the 1950s, Soviet leaders had their long range bombers fly over Red Square repeatedly during military parades in an effort to make their fleet appear larger than it was. But that was before Photoshop.