A fake image featuring former U.S. President Barack Obama and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is going viral after being shared by actor James Woods on social media.
The picture depicts Obama bowing to Khamenei, who is sitting on stage. Woods captioned the photo, “The absolute low point in American history,” and the post had over 700,000 views at publication.
“But in my lifetime I have watched this groveling [expletive] be hosed to the gutter, and a real President take the reins,” Woods added. “Thank God.”
The problem, as a Community Note explained, is that the picture is doctored. According to the Community Note, the image combines a 2009 photo of Obama letting a child touch his hair with a 2005 image of Khamenei at former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s inauguration.
This image purporting to show Barack Obama bowing to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has resurfaced after US strikes on Iran.
It is an old fake that edited together a photo of the former president letting a boy touch his hair with a shot of Iran’s supreme leader.https://t.co/2yRqHvUABV pic.twitter.com/oXRssC0VCa
— Bill McCarthy (@billdmccarthy) June 24, 2025
Additionally, the Community Note reported that Obama and Khamenei have never met. The image recently drew attention in June 2025, though its inaccuracy was immediately pointed out. According to the Associated Press, the fake photo has circulated as far back as 2019. Although plenty of X users were fooled, others mocked Woods for sharing the doctored picture.
“You have the media literacy of a potato,” one X user wrote to Woods.
Another commented, “Trump is such a LOSER that James Woods has to Photoshop & lie about Obama so MAGA feels better about their vote.”
Woods had not removed the post as of Friday morning, nor had he acknowledged that the image was fake.
UNREST IN IRAN: Protesters clash with security forces in riot gear after weeks of anti-government unrest.
Iranian state television reportedly acknowledges the Islamic Republic has lost “a lot of martyrs” as protests sweep across the country.
At least 2,000 people have been… pic.twitter.com/IzXB5vtK7Q
— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 14, 2026
The viral image comes amid ongoing violent protests in Iran. The Human Rights Activists News Agency has estimated that there have been nearly 2,700 deaths, including 2,478 protesters and 163 people affiliated with the government, over the last month. However, the true death toll is unknown, in part because Iran shut down the internet and phone networks on Jan. 8.
Protests stemming from anger partially related to Iran’s economy and social restrictions have occurred in all 31 provinces over the past three weeks. Despite the technology outages, videos and images have nonetheless circulated on social media. However, NewsGuard had identified at least seven AI-generated videos that had drawn roughly 3.5 million views as of Wednesday afternoon. One clip showed women protestors damaging an Iranian military vehicle.
In a Truth Social post earlier this week, President Donald Trump urged the “Iranian Patriots” to continue protesting and told them that the United States intends to help them. Trump and the State Department have publicly advised U.S. citizens who are in Iran to leave the country.
According to Reuters, Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed the situation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who reportedly told Putin that the U.S. and Israel have played a role in the protests.
