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By Kate Plummer
Senior US News Reporter
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A fake video depicting President Donald Trump showing Fox News' Laura Ingraham a cardboard cut-out of Iran's new leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has gone viral on social media.
The video, which is a mock-up of an old Fox News segment, shows Trump parting curtains attached to a wall in the Oval Office to reveal the cut-out of the leader, appointed on Sunday following the death of his father, former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"It's very cool," Trump said in the video. "Just went up yesterday."
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The video was first posted by an account called Gizmo Memes and has been shared widely on X, racking up millions of views. Gizmo memes credited another account called BasedRose for creating the meme.
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Why It Matters
Social media memes are increasingly fooling people and have the capacity to spread misinformation during crucial periods like war.
The U.S. and Israel have been carrying out coordinated attacks on Iranian military and strategic targets, with officials describing this as a preemptive operation targeting the country's nuclear capabilities. The Islamic Republic launched retaliatory strikes across U.S. bases in the Middle East and Iran has repeatedly denied pursuing a nuclear weapon.
What To Know
The video comes from a March 2025 segment of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle, in which Trump showed Ingraham the Declaration of Independence which he had hung in the Oval Office. He said drapes were put over the document because "the light affects it."
Meanwhile, real cardboard cut-outs of the late Ayatollah Ali Khameini were used in 2012 to mark celebrations commemorating the 1979 Islamic Revolution. People also used cardboard versions of Hezbollah's former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in pro-government rallies in February, before the war broke out.
Local news footage circulating on social media also appeared to show Iranians celebrating the new ayatollah with cardboard cutouts of him.
What People Are Saying
One X account called End Wokeness, which has 3.9 million followers, wrote: "I'm in tears… these Ayatollah memes are so good."
Eyal Yakoby, an online commentator with 276,000 followers wrote: "Cardboard Ayatollah is the meme of the year."
On Monday, Trump told CBS News: "I think the war is very complete, pretty much."
He added that Iran has "no navy, no communications" and "no air force," and that the United States is "very far" ahead of his initial estimate that the war could last four to five weeks.
What Happens Next
The war with Iran has entered its 12th day. Iran launched a wave of attacks on its Gulf neighbors overnight, including firing drones and missiles at Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Two drones fell within the vicinity of Dubai International Airport on Wednesday, injuring four people. Air traffic is operating as normal.
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