Reverse image search found a Fars News post dated Aug. 24, 2026, saying the footage predates his leadership
Widely circulated, Mojtaba Khamenei’s viral video is fake. PHOTO: VIDEO GRAB
Multiple news outlets and users were sharing a clip across social media platforms since Monday, claiming it shows Mojtaba Khamenei’s first appearance after becoming Iran’s supreme leader, presiding over a religious academic study session. However, the video is old from September 2, 2020.
Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba’s father, who previously served as Iran’s supreme leader, was assassinated in Tehran in a series of Israeli airstrikes during the beginning of the Iran-US war in February 2026. After his assassination, Mojtaba rose to power as Iran’s third supreme leader.
According to news reports, Mojtaba suffered a significant injury to one or both legs, and his face was disfigured in the attack that killed his father. Since the attack, there has been a lot of public speculation about his whereabouts and condition as well as his ability to rule. No photo, video, or audio recording has been published on official Iranian platforms since the attack.
How it started
On Monday, Russian state-controlled news network RT shared a video on X, allegedly showing Mojtaba making his first appearance after becoming supreme leader.
The caption of the post read: “Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in first-time-seen footage. Released publicly for the first time by Iranian media, footage shows him presiding over a religious academic study session.”
The post gained 283,800 views.
Multiple Indian news outlets also shared the video in the same context, including The Financial Express, BDN News 24, and Times Now.
The same video was shared by Turkish news platform RTE Urdu with the following caption: “Iranian media outlet Fars News Agency has released a video of a meeting in which Iran’s current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Sayyed Mojtaba Khamenei, was present as the strategic overseer.”
The post accumulated 26,800 views.
Similarly, Pakistani news channels 24 News HD and Dawn News also shared the same video with a similar claim.
Several other social media users also shared the same video on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook, with similar captions, as seen here, here, here and here.
Methodology
A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in Mojtaba’s whereabouts.
A keyword search was conducted to assess whether any credible international news outlets or official Iranian platforms had shared the video with a similar context that it was recent. It led to a video shared by an Iranian news agency, Young Journalist’s Club, which is affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) state broadcaster, dated September 2, 2020, with the following headline: “A meeting where the revolutionary leader was the instructor. A picture of Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei in the position of a supervisor has been published”.
Another Iranian news agency, Mashregh News, shared the same video dated September 2, 2021, with the following headline: “A meeting where the revolutionary leader was the instructor.”
A reverse image search conducted on the video’s keyframes yielded a post from an Iranian news outlet, Basij News, on the official website of Fars News Agency, dated August 24, 2026, with the following caption: “A meeting where the leader of the revolution served as the academic supervisor. This footage dates back to the period prior to his assuming the leadership.”
According to the post, the video was shared recently, but it was old, from when Mojtaba was not the supreme leader.
Moreover, the video shared by local and Indian news outlets had also featured the watermark of Fars News.
Fact-check status
The claim that a viral video shows Mojtaba Khamenei’s first appearance after becoming supreme leader is misleading.
The clip is old from September 2, 2020, and shows him in an academic setting.
This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.
