Iran has seen one of the largest nationwide protest movements in years, beginning late December 2025 and extending into January 2026. What started as demonstrations over the collapsing economy, skyrocketing inflation, and cost of living quickly morphed into broader anti-government sentiment.
Social media users posted a video and alleged that Iranian people came out in a rally because they support their government.
Apart from this, other users have also posted this video claiming that the rally was in support of the current Iranian regime, which can be seen here.
Fact-check
During the DFRAC team’s research, we found that the video going viral on social media is being shared with a misleading claim. We conducted a reverse image search and found this video on a Facebook account with the username Uzbekistanofficial, where it was mentioned that “People attending the funeral of Soleimani, the Iranian commander and leader of the Quds Force, killed by America.”
Information about this video was also found on a BBC article, which reported that a large number of people had taken to the streets of Iran’s capital, Tehran, to mourn during the funeral of the Chief of the Quds Force, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qasem Soleimani. In Iran, Qasem Soleimani was regarded as a national hero and was widely considered the second most powerful figure in the country after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Qasem Soleimani was killed on 20 January 2020 in a U.S. attack in Iraq.
Conclusion
The DFRAC fact check clearly shows that the claim being made in the viral social media video that a large number of people in Iran came out in support of the government is misleading. In reality, the video is from the funeral of Qassem Soleimani from 2020.
