Late last year, anti-government protests began in Iran. According to reports by various international media outlets, the movement has reached one of its most widespread and violent phases in recent years. There have been reports of hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests in the crackdown on the protests. However, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has claimed that despite the unprecedented unrest across the country, the situation is now “completely under control.”
Against this backdrop, a statement attributed to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, allegedly referencing Bangladesh, has been circulating on social media. The claim alleges that he said:
“Just a few days ago, an incident took place in Bangladesh with the support of America. We have observed the entire matter. The incident in Bangladesh is a lesson for us. Therefore, my soldiers are prepared to face any situation.”
Some Facebook posts circulating this claim can be seen here, here, here, and here.
Posts carrying the same claim on other platforms can be seen on Instagram, TikTok, X, and Threads.
Fact-check
The Rumor Scanner team’s investigation found that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not make any such statement involving Bangladesh. In reality, the claim has been spread without any reliable sources and is entirely baseless.
To verify whether Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had made any such comment about Bangladesh, the Rumor Scanner team reviewed multiple reliable and official sources.
First, recent speeches, statements, and messages published on Ali Khamenei’s official website were examined. No reference to Bangladesh or any statement matching the claimed content was found. Next, his official X (formerly Twitter) account was reviewed. While there were posts on various current issues, no evidence of the alleged statement was found.
Additionally, reports on Khamenei’s recent remarks were searched in Iran’s state-run and semi-state-run media outlets. These outlets also provided no evidence of the alleged statement.
Some posts spreading the claim further alleged that Khamenei delivered the statement in an audio message broadcast by Al Jazeera. However, no such information was found on the Qatar-based satellite channel Al Jazeera. Nor was there any coverage of such news by other international media outlets.
To further verify the matter, the Rumor Scanner team contacted the fact-checking platform FactNameh, which focuses on Iranian affairs. The organization’s editor-in-chief, Farhad Souzanchi, told Rumor Scanner:
“We haven’t seen this circulating here (in Iran), but we cannot find such a quote in Khamenei’s speeches.
Therefore, the statement attributed to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei involving Bangladesh is fake and fabricated.