What was claimed
An image shows Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lying partially buried in rubble after being killed in a strike on Iran by the US and Israel.
Our verdict
This image is fake. It has been made or edited using Google AI tools, as evidenced by a SynthID watermark and several visual inconsistencies.
A picture that appears to show Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei buried in rubble after being killed following US-Israeli strikes on Iran is fake.
The image has been circulating on social media following the announcement that the Ayatollah had been killed on 28 February, having ruled Iran for 36 years. Iranian state media officially confirmed his death on 1 March.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and US President Donald Trump were reportedly “shown an image of Khamenei's body” after it was retrieved from the Tehran compound where he was killed.
But this image has not been made public. And the picture being shared on social media, in which a man resembling Khamenei lies partially buried by rubble while men in hard hats appear to be attempting to excavate him, is fake.
Join 72,953 people who trust us to check the facts
Sign up to get weekly updates on politics, immigration, health and more.
Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.
When we reverse image searched this picture, Google told us it was “Made with Google AI”. And when we used Google tools to examine it in more detail, it showed us that it had a SynthID watermark meaning it was generated or edited with one of Google’s AI tools.
While it appears fairly realistic at first glance, there are some inconsistencies in the image that also suggest that it is an AI creation.
These include one of the men appearing to stand on a large slab of concrete lying on top of the Ayatollah’s body, and none of them directly engaging with the body.
During breaking news events, misinformation can spread quickly online so it’s important to consider whether what you see on social media comes from a trustworthy and verifiable source before sharing. Our Full Fact toolkit can help you do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as altered because this is a fake image, and does not show Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after the strike that killed him.
Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.
Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.
Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.