Iranian missile photos may be doctored

TEHRAN, July 10 (UPI) -- Accompanying news of Iran's latest missile tests were photographic images of four missiles soaring skyward – but reports say it may be one missile too many.

The New York Times Thursday said it appeared there were only three missiles, in a perhaps digitally altered shot, with the second missile on the right seeming to be a composite of two others in the image.

The Times said if the photograph was altered, there was no evidence that official Iran had a hand in it.

The apparent discrepancy was not noted until after the four-missile shot received global play in major newspapers and on Web sites Wednesday. Some ran a photo with only three missiles Thursday, the Times said.

Agence France-Presse, which retracted the four-missile shot Thursday, said that it obtained the image from the Web site of Sepah News, the media arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Wednesday. The French news agency said Thursday the image of four missiles was "apparently digitally altered" by Iranian state media.

Sepah was said to have published the three-missile version of the image Thursday without further explanation.