What was claimed
A video shows Iranians in the street taking part in anti-government protests.
Our verdict
This footage was actually filmed in Thessaloniki, Greece, in November 2025 following a rap concert.
Video of clashes in Greece shared with claims it shows recent protests in Iran
A video shared thousands of times online with claims it shows anti-government protests in Iran was actually filmed in Greece.
The clip, which has appeared on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram shows people on a street throwing flaming projectiles as a fire burns, engulfing cars and trees. Although there has been genuine footage of recent violent clashes in Iran, this particular video is not one of them.
One post featuring the video, which has more than 18,500 reactions and has been viewed nearly a million times, claims it shows “MASSIVE CROWDS MOVING THROUGH FIRES AND DEBRIS IN TEHRAN”.
But the footage is not related to the ongoing protests against the Iranian regime, which began in late December over another sharp drop in the value of the Iranian currency and have since grown into a crisis of legitimacy for Islamic Republic.
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.
We traced the clip back to higher quality footage shared on Instagram on 2 November by an account based in Greece, before the current protests broke out in Iran.
Full Fact has also been able to match the location of the video to a street in Thessaloniki in northern Greece.
It matches similar footage shared by the video wire service Newsflare, which described violent clashes in the early hours of 2 November between “hooded youths and police forces in Thessaloniki after a massive anti-system rap concert by artist Lex, attended by more than 40,000 people”. Local media reported that 18 people were detained by police.
Iran’s government-enforced internet blackout and limits on foreign press means that genuine footage from the widespread protests across the country, and independent reporting and documentation of events on the ground, has been limited.
It’s important to check that sources are trustworthy and verifiable before sharing their content on social media. Our toolkit has tips on how to identify potential bad information online.
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 missing context because the video was filmed in Greece in November 2025, and does not show the ongoing protests in Iran.