During the funeral of former religious leader Ali Khamenei in Iran, claims that new leader Mojtaba Khamenei appeared in public spread rapidly on social media. However, Al Jazeera's investigation did not confirm these claims.
The video, first shared from the Instagram account 'Manikia 0915' and viewed more than 7 million times, was then recirculated by pro-Iran accounts on platforms like TikTok. The video showed a person with their back turned standing before funeral attendees under tight security.
Source of the claims revealed
Al Jazeera's open-source investigation determined that the person in the video was not Mojtaba Khamenei. A photographer who filmed the funeral stated that the video showed himself and a friend, and that his friend was mistaken for Mojtaba Khamenei but it was not true.
The photographer denied the claims, saying, 'I wish it were true.' Moreover, no report appeared in Iranian official media about Mojtaba Khamenei attending the ceremony.
Security measures and regional tension
It was confirmed that Ali Khamenei's three sons were in the front rows at the funeral and experienced emotional moments. It is assessed that Mojtaba Khamenei did not appear in public due to health and security reasons.
Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28 in attacks by the US and Israel on Iran at his residence in Tehran. Although Mojtaba Khamenei was elected the new religious leader by the Assembly of Experts, he had not attended any public event.
The funeral procession moved from Tehran to the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala, and continued amid tensions between Iran and the US in the Strait of Hormuz.
