An image allegedly showing the body of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei kept on ice has gone viral on social media. Those sharing the image claim it shows the Iranian leader’s mortal remains.
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “O great Lord, accept me as the guest of heaven. Amen.” (Translated from Bengali)
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The image was AI-generated.
On a Google reverse image search, we didn’t find any official government source sharing the image. We didn’t find any credible news reports publishing the image.
Moreover, searching with relevant keywords, we found a report by Al Jazeera, published on July 8. According to the report, thousands of mourners gathered in Mashhad on July 9 as Iran buried slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Imam Reza shrine, concluding nearly a week of funeral processions across Iran and Iraq. Despite intense summer heat, crowds filled the streets, carrying Iranian flags and portraits of Khamenei, while authorities enforced tight security during the final burial ceremony.
We also found another report of Al Arabiya on the funeral of Khamenei.
However, we were only able to find images of his coffin shrouded in Iranian flag.
We further checked with AI-detection tool, Hive Moderation, and found that the viral image is 99.9% AI-generated.
