Video expressing condolences shared as proof Ayatollah Khamenei is alive
A video featuring Dr. Abdul Majid Hakim Elahi, the representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in India, is being shared on social media with the claim that Khamenei is still alive. However, a review of the full footage shows no such claim.
A Facebook profile named “Awami League Paribar” posted the video with the caption: “Alhamdulillah, Ayatollah Khamenei is still alive! InshaAllah Iran will make history.” The post has been shared more than 300 times and viewed over 36,000 times. Logos from Indian news outlets ANI, NDTV, and PTI are visible in the clip.
Using key‑frame and keyword searches, Dismislab found multiple versions (1, 2) of the same footage on the verified X account of Asian News Agency (ANI) as well as on the social media pages of several Indian news outlets (1, 2). Pakistan‑based Geo News also published a report using the same video on its verified YouTube channel.
These reports confirm that the clip shows Dr. Hakim Elahi speaking to journalists after Ayatollah Khamenei’s assassination. The viral video is a one‑minute excerpt taken from the original four‑minute clip, specifically from the 1:40 to 2:40-minute mark.
In the one‑minute English segment circulated online, Dr. Hakim Elahi recounts how Khamenei refused repeated security requests to relocate from his office to another city or to move into a basement shelter.
The translated portion reads :“Ayatollah Khamenei used to go to his office every day, and several times the security forces asked him to move to another city. But he refused. He said, ‘If you can move 90 million Iranians to another city, then I will go after them.’ Clearly they could not do that. They told him, ‘We will arrange a basement for your safety.’ He said, ‘If you can prepare basements for all Iranians, then yes, I will go after all 90 million.’ They couldn’t do that. So he stayed in his office, in his home. And in the morning, the Zionist group and American planes…”
Nowhere in this excerpt, or in the full footage, does he claim that Ayatollah Khamenei is alive. In fact, at the start of his full statement, he expresses condolences over Khamenei’s killing.
Iran’s state news agency Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) confirmed Ayatollah Khamenei’s death on March 1. Despite this, old clips have resurfaced online to falsely claim that he survived. Dismislab has previously published a fact‑check addressing similar misinformation.
