Fake Forbes cover claims Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the most powerful man in the world
Decision: [Fake]
- Forbes magazine has not published a cover story on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, or referred to him as ‘the most powerful man in the world’.
What is the claim?
Several users on social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram have circulated a photo of an alleged Forbes magazine cover featuring a photo of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The alleged cover of April 15, 2024 is titled “The World’s Most Powerful Man”. Although some of these posts have been removed, archives are available here, here and here.
These posts came in the wake of Iran’s recent attack on Israel following the attack on the Iranian Consulate in Damascus, Syria, for which Iran blamed Israel. Two Iranian generals and five officers were killed in this incident.
However, the viral picture is fabricated. Forbes magazine did not publish any such cover featuring Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the specified date.
Did Forbes publish such a cover?
We performed reverse image searches and advanced keyword searches, but did not find any reliable results from Forbes. We also examined the April–May issues of both the Forbes US edition and Forbes Middle East, but did not find any covers featuring Khamenei.
The April 2024 issue of the US edition highlighted billionaire investor Todd Boehly in a title titled “The World’s Billionaires”, while the Middle East edition was titled “The Middle East’s Fintech 50”, highlighting a group of innovators.
We reviewed the April 2024 issue of all other available Forbes editions published around the world and found no such cover. Additionally, Khamenei is ranked 17th on Forbes’ list of the “World’s Most Powerful People”.
Interestingly, the photo of Khamenei used in the fake cover is from October 2015 and is available on the website of the Supreme Leader’s office.
We contacted Forbes magazine for comment. A spokesperson confirmed, “The image in question is not an actual Forbes cover and was never published on our platforms.”
What anomalies did we see?
We observed significant differences between the layout of the alleged photo and the authentic Forbes cover photo. The cover of Forbes magazine since May 2020 does not include a dateline, unlike the fake image, which displays a dateline prominently at the top.
The masthead is placed above and above the person’s image in an authentic Forbes magazine cover. In contrast, the fake cover places the masthead behind the image, with the text concentrated at the top.
Additionally, the actual cover usually includes teaser titles for other stories included in the issue at the top, unlike the fake image, which focuses solely on one article.
Decision
Forbes magazine has not issued a cover of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or labeled him as the ‘most powerful person’ in the world. We found no evidence of this cover in the Forbes archives, and there are several notable discrepancies. Therefore, we have marked this post as fake.
This report first appeared logically on Facts.com, and is republished on ABP Live as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report of ABP Live.