Fact-check: Altered image falsely shows Saudi minister kissing Iranian president's hand at meet in Tehran

An image circulated on X after a meeting in Tehran on 2026-10-26 purported to show Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman kissing Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s hand; one post had more than 71,000 views and about 3,000 likes. Geo News’ fact-check found the image was digitally altered: the original photograph (published July 2026) shows Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Elkhereiji shaking hands with Pezeshkian, not the defence minister kissing the president’s hand. Geo also reports that an AI-detection tool (Hive Moderation) returned a 91.3% score indicating the image was likely AI-generated or a deepfake.

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