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| - A disturbing video of a man dying by suicide with a firearm is being shared on social media with claims misidentifying him as a general who "betrayed” Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The captions further claim that the man seen in the video revealed Khamenei's location to the United States and Israel before they allegedly struck his office in Tehran.
BOOM found that the video pre-dates the ongoing conflict between US-Israel and Iran. The video was previously posted by several Kurdish outlets in October 2024 stating that the man had killed himself on an Instagram live.
Khamenei was killed on February 28, 2026, at the age of 86 in a joint US-Israeli strike that hit his office and residential compound in Tehran. Several members of his family, including his daughter, son-in-law and grandchild were killed in the attack, while his wife later died from her injuries.
The Claim
The 30 seconds video is being shared on social media with the claim that the “general who betrayed” the Iranian leader by revealing his exact location later repented and took his own life during a live broadcast.
BOOM also received the video on our WhatsApp helpline number (+91 7700906588), and has not induced the video in the story due to its graphic content.
Trigger warning: The visuals are distressing in nature. Readers' discretion advised.
What We Found:
1) 2024 incident
BOOM ran a reverse image search using Google Lens, which showed that the video dates back to October 2024 and is not recent.
The search results led to a Reddit thread from October 2024 discussing the video, as well as a November 2024 fact-check by the Palestinian fact-checking organisation Kashif, when the same video was falsely shared claiming it showed an incident in the Palestinian city of Hebron.
2) Kurdish outlets 2024 posts
Taking a hint from this we then found several Kurdish outlets including Rojhelat News and Kurdistan Online posting about the incident in October 2024.
According to these reports, a man identified as Zuhair Aminian, from Baneh in Iran’s Kurdistan region, died by suicide during an Instagram live broadcast. The reports stated that Aminian was living in the Khabat district near Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.
BOOM could not independently verify the incident, however we were able to establish that it is not from the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran.
Note: If you are in need of support, or know someone who does, do not hesitate to reach out to one of the helplines below:
AASRA: 91-22-27546669 (24 hours)
Sneha Foundation: 91-44-24640050 (24 hours)
Vandrevala Foundation for Mental Health: 1860-2662-345 and 1800-2333-330 (24 hours)
iCall: (555)123-4567 (Available from Monday to Saturday: 8:00am to 10:00pm)
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The Samaritans Mumbai: 91-84229 84528/91-84229 84529/91 84228 84530 (Daily, 3 pm - 9 pm)
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