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Regime supporters and opposition share AI-generated images of Khamenei’s funeral

As Iran held funeral ceremonies for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, international media documented large crowds in Tehran. Alongside genuine images, AI-generated videos and photos have spread widely on social media, some falsely exaggerating crowd sizes or containing tell-tale signs of artificial generation.

By Tertius News AI Desk 1 outlet · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage Jul 7–8, 2026 Published Aug 15

Lead

Iran drew huge crowds for the funeral procession of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, an event documented by international news agencies. Yet alongside verified images of mourners, a wave of AI-generated videos and photos has spread across social media, falsely claiming to show the event. Some exaggerate crowd sizes, while others contain tell-tale AI errors and fabricated landmarks.

Authorities said several million Iranians attended the funeral, though these numbers cannot be independently verified. While many people did attend, as shown by photos taken by international media outlets, fake images of the event have also been circulating online.

Coverage Comparison

France 24's reporting focused on debunking misleading images and videos. Their coverage highlighted specific examples of AI-generated content, including a video of the Grand Mosalla Mosque and an image of the Azadi Tower. Both articles emphasised that AI-generated content is being used to spread misinformation, but they also acknowledged that real crowds were present and documented by international agencies.

The first France 24 article detailed how a pro-regime social media user posted a video on July 4 showing an enormous crowd at the Grand Mosalla Mosque, where Khamenei's body lay in state. The video garnered more than 370,000 views on X. The second article mentioned a separate video claiming to show the "largest funeral in history" and an image of the Azadi Tower, both later identified as AI-generated.

Key Claims

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's body lay in state in Tehran in early July, and huge crowds gathered for his funeral procession on Monday, as documented by international news agencies.
Authorities said several million Iranians attended the funeral, though these numbers cannot be independently verified.
AI-generated videos and photos have been shared on social media, falsely claiming to show the event.
A video of the Grand Mosalla Mosque, posted online on July 4, was generated by AI. According to France 24, the video shows an enormous crowd on the grounds of the mosque, but architectural differences—such as the dome's colour and the absence of a large arch—reveal it is not genuine footage.
An image of the Azadi Tower was generated by AI, showing a crowd gathered in front of it. OpenAI's image detection identified a SynthID watermark, indicating it was created using its AI tools. The image also contains geographical inconsistencies, including trees and buildings that do not appear in recent satellite imagery of Azadi Square.
An image of rapper Toomaj Salehi at the funeral was generated by AI, according to the provided material.
A separate AI-generated video, viewed more than a million times, appears to show millions of mourners carrying Khamenei's coffin through packed streets, but the clip contains meaningless Persian text and architectural inaccuracies.
Khamenei was killed on February 28 during a bombing campaign on Iran carried out by the United States and Israel, as reported by France 24.

How this outlet told it

France 24 — English as of Jul 8, 2026, 4:00 PM UTC

Framing: Exposing fake news and AI-generated content — Investigative and informative

Facts Included:

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's body lay in state in Tehran
Several million Iranians attended the funeral
Fake images of the event have been circulating online
AI-generated videos and photos have been shared on social media
Examples of AI-generated content include a video of the Grand Mosalla Mosque and an image of the Azadi Tower

Read the source article →

France 24 — English as of Jul 7, 2026, 9:31 PM UTC

Framing: Separating fact from fiction in AI-generated content — Informative and objective

Facts Included:

Huge crowds gathered in Tehran for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral procession
International news agencies documented the event
AI-generated videos and photos have spread widely online
Examples of AI-generated content include a video claiming to show the 'largest funeral in history' and an image of the Azadi Tower

Read the source article →

What was claimed, and who backed it

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimAyatollah Ali Khamenei's body lay in state in Tehran.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via France 24 — English as of Jul 8, 2026, 4:00 PM UTC
ClaimSeveral million Iranians attended the funeral, though these numbers can’t be independently verified.	ConfidenceMedium	StatusSingle-source via France 24 — English as of Jul 8, 2026, 4:00 PM UTC
ClaimFake images of the event have been circulating online.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via France 24 — English as of Jul 8, 2026, 4:00 PM UTC
ClaimAI-generated videos and photos have been shared on social media.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via France 24 — English as of Jul 8, 2026, 4:00 PM UTC
ClaimA video of the Grand Mosalla Mosque was generated by AI, showing an enormous crowd on the grounds.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via France 24 — English as of Jul 8, 2026, 4:00 PM UTC
ClaimAn image of the Azadi Tower was generated by AI, showing a crowd gathered in front of it.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via France 24 — English as of Jul 8, 2026, 4:00 PM UTC
ClaimAn image of rapper Toomaj Salehi at the funeral was generated by AI.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via France 24 — English as of Jul 8, 2026, 4:00 PM UTC
ClaimHuge crowds gathered in Tehran for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral procession.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via France 24 — English as of Jul 7, 2026, 9:31 PM UTC
ClaimInternational news agencies documented the event.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via France 24 — English as of Jul 7, 2026, 9:31 PM UTC
ClaimAyatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28 during a bombing campaign on Iran carried out by the United States and Israel.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via France 24 — English as of Jul 8, 2026, 4:00 PM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

1 outlet · 2 articles consulted: France 24 — English 10 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-08-15