What a haul!

Yes? Go on.

Long shot: Would they work with WFC Blaster? The voyager class wagon chap.

Love this song. Makes a swish montage in Mindhunter.

Cough cough Portishead SOS cough cough

A composite image of (top) hill range seen in a social media video of bright explosions in Isfahan at night, and (bottom) the same hill range seen on Google Earth. Both have been marked up with numbers 1 through 5 to show matching location.

A screengrab from a social media video show a bright explosion near a hill in Isfahan at night, with a mast highlighted in green. Next to it is the same hill seen on Google Earth with the same mast highlighted.

Google Earth satellite image of southern Isfahan, Iran, with two airbases highlighted in white and a walled compound between them, among a rocky and otherwise unused region, highlighted in red.

The video posted by Trump was key: It showed secondary explosions clearly, and when geolocated made certain of an area between two airbases.

Four rises, 1 being the highest and the only one with a mast in the area, with a fifth in the foreground.

Walled compound: 32°35'28.22"N 51°41'38.60"E (red)

Composite image of (top) two screengrabs from a social media video showing bright explosions in Isfahan, one seen beyond the dome and minarets of Mosalla Mosque, the other seen beyond the Soffeh Mountain Park; (bottom) screengrabs from Google Earth showing satellite pictures of the mosque and the mountain park.

When we saw the same mountain range in another video, plus a landmark as identifiable as a mosque, it helped us establish at least two simultaneous explosions.

Plus their proximity to airbases / potential munition storage in the region

Composite picture of (top) screengrab from social media video showing red smoke and fire beyond a dark range of hills at night in Iran; (bottom) the same location as seen on Google Earth.

Composite picture of (top) screengrab from social media video showing red smoke and fire beyond a dark range of hills at night in Iran; (bottom) the same location as seen on Google Earth. Between the two images the same range of peaks has been marked with a red line, the same smaller hill has been circled in orange, and a winding road into the hillside has been highlighted in white.

For a bit of how-we-know (so can you), here's a breakdown of some of the examples we verified and used in the video.

When dealing with hill shapes, go for a map site where you can get some extreme tilt. I used G/Earth.

At night, if you see light strings, think roads. Winding lights, hillside road.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

My days. Jake Wood / Max Branning, may get the Tottenham tattoo, and badminton legend Gail Emms might have to pay for it.

This has me hooked more than Eastenders or the Prem.

Videos from Isfahan show likelihood of weapons storage sites being targeted By Richard Irvine-Brown and Joshua Cheetham BBC Verify is continuing to analyse videos showing a series of explosions at Isfahan, in central Iran. One video, which has also been shared by US President Donald Trump, shows fire and smoke from an explosion, followed by several secondary blasts. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a Pentagon news conference an "ammo depot" was "struck by US bombers". We've located the blast to a walled-off compound between two air bases on the south side of the city. We shared this and other videos we've verified with experts who agree they show weapons storage facilities being struck. Experts at McKenzie Intelligence Services and the International Institute of Strategic Studies point out the secondary blasts are evidence of munitions "cooking off" where they explode due to the heat caused by an explosion. Jackie Akhavan, professor of explosive chemistry at Cranfield University, said although there were no visible shock waves from high explosives the brown smoke seen in some videos "is evidence of nitrous oxide which is produced when a high explosive burns". According to the defence intelligence company Janes and Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute, targeting such facilities - likely to be underground - would require US heavy-penetration "bunker-buster" bombs.

And expert comment on what we can see in those fires and explosions: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c8...

Isfahan explosions so big they were seen by weather satellite published at 18:52 31 March 18:52 31 March By Barbara Metzler and Richard Irvine-Brown Some of the explosions near Isfahan in central Iran last night were so large they could be seen on weather satellite images, which can detect sudden changes in the level of light over large areas. BBC Verify has analysed imagery from Meteosat-12, which shows cloud drifting over the city in central Iran before a white flash appears. Frames from the feed show the light at 22:30 and 22:40 GMT (02:30 and 02:40 local time), suggesting there were fires or a series of explosions lasting over a period of at least 10 minutes. While the flash itself appears small, the fires or smoke plumes which caused it must have been significant enough for it to register on the imagery. In the most zoomed in version of the Meteosat-12 feed, each pixel covers 1 sq km (0.4 sq miles). Here’s a before and after image of two frames for you to compare: IMAGE: Satellite view over Isfahan in black and white.

Here's our explainer about the weather satellite picking up the blasts: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c8...
(The slider will work on this link, not the image below.)

From Tuesday, how we know what we know about multiple strikes on Isfahan, Iran's second most populated city.

With @jcheetham.bsky.social.

Photos show heavily damaged US radar jet at Saudi base US Central Command has not yet publicly commented on the incident.

ICYMI: We verified three photos that emerged on Sunday showing a severely damaged E-3 at Prince Sultan air base
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Kris Jenner images flood Chinese social media in good luck trend Hundreds of thousands of posts have been shared in the past three days as users hope for prosperity

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Why are there hundreds of thousands of posts about the Kardashian's mother-manager on Chinese social media?

Even better, TFWiki tells me it was modelled after a Willys 77.

Movie spin-off Hubcap. Turns into an old-timey jalopy.

Four toy robots, all Transformers, with visible toy car parts on them. Two are yellow and two are red, posed on an off-white background.

Four toy robots, all Transformers, with visible toy car parts on them. Two are yellow and two are red, posed on an off-white background.

Four toy robots, all Transformers, with visible toy car parts on them. Two are yellow and two are red, posed on an off-white background.

Transformers! Indulging a nerd hobby.

Tried doing actual photos for the first time, with a roll of paper on a table, inspired by friends who do this at pro level.

If you know why these four plastic robots go together, congrats.

If not, enjoy their mustard-ketchup vibe.

'Sir, Your feature “The Brits are coming, but who wins the Oscar for best US accent?” (News, last week) called to mind the time, in 1989, when I was playing an American in one of the Indiana Jones films, directed by the great Steven Spielberg. At the end of one gruelling day in the desert, Steven approached me and said: “Julian, your American accent is so good, you’ll never stop making American movies after this.” I’ve never made another. Julian Glover, London SW13

Happy 91st birthday to Julian Glover, genre villain extraordinaire. I often think of this letter he had published in the Sunday Times in May 2021:

Meta and Google found liable in social media addiction trial The verdict marks the end of a five-week trial on the addictive nature of social media platforms.

Meta and Google found liable in landmark social media addiction trial www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Running Man (2025 film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Run...

Composite image of Nico O'Reilly of Manchester City looking very happy after scoring against Arsenal in the League Cup Final, juxtaposed with Jake Wood, as Max Branning, looking lost and sad.

A reminder: Jake Wood, the Arsenal fan and EastEnders star, bet on BBC 5Live's Fighting Talk earlier this year if the Gunners didn't win any of the four competitions they were in, he'd get a massive Tottenham cockerel tattoo on his back.

(My team have nothing at stake now, so this is my fixation.)

If you have never heard SRT, then take your streaming service of choice and give 99 And A Half Won’t Do, or Walls Of Jericho, a hard blast.

Follow it up with Ace Of Spades by Motörhead as a Kubrick match cut.

UK finance firm Hargreaves Lansdown hit by IT failure The finance firm has apologised for the disruption to its website and app, which has angered many customers.

"Especially concerning considering the geopolitical context and the volatility in the markets," said one client.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Post by Fergal Keane on LinkedIn: I had the pleasure of drawing on the expertise of Richard Irvine-Brown today for a piece about Iran. So, you know those brains in the great tv detective series, the ones who work in forensics, and the cop asks them if they can crack a case and magically they do. Richard is that brain. Thank you to him and all the people in our Verify and Osint teams. That capacity for analysis and checking has been one of the great evolutions in my years in journalism. I will miss working with people like that when I leave at the end of May.

Instead, the merit in my work I measure by appreciation of peers. If I can surprise colleagues, or uplift their work, it's the best feeling in the job.

Which also happened this week, from a journalist with a justifiable level of decoration.

Plus, I don't think journalists should get awards.

Like doctors, lawyers, clerics and sports coaches, I'd hope we're doing it for belief in the social merit of doing these things, not seeking personal trophies.

But this is my first award, and I can't deny I'm thrilled.

From Iran to China to Venezuela - how seized tanker hid location A seized tanker accused of smuggling sanctioned oil has long hidden its true location. BBC Verify examines how.

Another was our report on Venezuelan tankers: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

With @jcheetham.bsky.social, @paulybrown.bsky.social and @matt-murphy96.bsky.social

How Tanzania police crushed election protests with lethal force The UN says hundreds of people were killed in the protests. Verified clips show the violent actions of police as they attempted to crush protests.

First, no contemporary journalism is a solo gig.

Beehive told me notable work with my name on in 2025 included killings in Tanzania, with Peter Mwai: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

As well as Kumar Malhotra, @emmapengelly.bsky.social and @sryder.bsky.social.

An award. A perspex hexagon reading: Beehive News, Top News Writers of 2025, Richard Irvine-Brown, is hereby recognised for his excellence in journalism, Top War & Conflict Writer, Overall

BBC Verify got an award with my name on it.

Beehive News are an aggregator which scores news pieces on data use, lack of sensationalism, etc.

Apparently, across 500,000 articles / 15,000 journalists, I came out as the Top War & Conflict Writer, overall, 2025. (Not a photographer.)

Cheers Vic! Very much appreciate it!

My final verification lead shift of the first week of the Iran conflict. Another day of BBC Live Page posts and listen below to hear me speaking to Outside Source on the BBC World Service. Another… ... My final verification lead shift of the first week of the Iran conflict. Another day of BBC Live Page posts and listen below to hear me speaking to Outside Source on the BBC World Service. Another d...

Again, Outside Source from BBC World Service came to speak to the Verify team about the day.

Here's my section, below, including how anybody can see the state of Iranian internet connectivity by open-source proxies.
(On LinkedIn b/c Bluesky says no 3m+ vids.)

www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...