Widespread protests in Iran that began on December 28, 2025, over a deepening economic crisis, especially soaring inflation and the collapsing rial, have transformed into a nationwide anti-government movement.
The government’s response has been brutal, with thousands of deaths and arrests reported amid an ongoing internet blackout and severe communication restrictions. International pressure is rising, including US sanctions over the violent crackdown, as Iran’s clerical leadership faces one of its most serious challenges in years.
In the above context, a video is being widely shared on social media in which a man in a black jacket is seen slapping a cleric.
The video is shared with a caption claiming that it shows a cleric in Iran, who resembles Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, being assaulted by the protestors.
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “The people’s revolution in Iran has escalated to such an extent that folks are no longer holding back from thrashing the mullahs and mob-lynching them.” (Translated from Hindi)
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The viral video is old and is scripted. The man in clerical clothing actually worked at a bodywork shop in northern Tehran, and the youth seen hitting him was his son.
On a Google reverse image search, we found that the same video was shared by an Instagram user on April 7, 2021, with a caption that reads, “Why is this fake clip going viral in social networks!? In this fake video, the clergies say to the lower lip, ‘hit my ear’, and it’s obviously not real. However, people who wish for such scenes are grabbing this video. People even enjoy the fake video of the cleric beating, and the level of cleric hatred is unprecedented, and everyone has found out that the cleric era is over!"
Since the video is old, we can ascertain that it has no relation to the current protest in Iran.
A screenshot of the video was shared by DW on April 19, 2021.
The report quoted Iran’s Fars news agency saying Tehran police investigated a video showing a person in Shia religious dress being slapped and found it to be fake. Police also arrested the people who made it. According to Tehran’s police chief, Hossein Rahimi, the man in religious clothing worked at a carpentry cleaning shop in Tehran, and the person attacking him was his son.
The screenshot was also shared by Independent Persian on April 19, 2021.
The report quoted Tehran police, who said that the viral video showing a cleric being slapped was fabricated, and have arrested its creators, a father and son, who allegedly planned to use it to seek asylum abroad. The man in clerical clothing actually worked at a bodywork shop in northern Tehran, and the youth seen hitting him was his son.
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.