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Did Trump say his funeral crowd would be bigger than Iranian ayatollah's? Don't be fooled

The multi-day funeral procession for Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in a U.S.-Israeli strike, began on July 4, 2026.

Published July 9, 2026

Image courtesy of Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

In July 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump said his funeral will draw a much bigger crowd than Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral.

Originated as Satire

In July 2026, a claim spread online that U.S. President Donald Trump said his funeral will draw a much bigger crowd than that of the Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in a U.S.-Israeli strike in February.

Khamenei's dayslong funeral procession began on July 4 and drew large crowds, according to reputable news reports .

Trump's supposed claim spread across Facebook and Instagram . Many users seemed to interpret the rumor as true, and Snopes readers searched the website to verify its legitimacy.

(Instagram user 1beautiful_star)

This rumor originated with satirical posts from Andy Borowitz, longtime satirical writer of The Borowitz Report , which ran in The New Yorker for 25 years before the magazine dropped his column for financial reasons. As such, we have rated this claim as one that originated as satire.

Borowitz first shared the rumor via his Facebook account on July 3, before publishing a longer satirical story ( archived ) in The Borowitz Report on July 6 titled, "Trump Says His Funeral Will Draw Much Bigger Crowd Than Ayatollah's." Many social media users circulating the rumor used the same image of Trump from Borowitz's original post, further indicating that the rumor originated with Borowitz.

Searches on DuckDuckGo , Google and Yahoo found no evidence Trump ever said his funeral would draw a much bigger crowd than Khamenei's. If Trump had really said that, journalists with reputable news outlets, such as The Associated Press or Reuters, would have widely reported on it, and those search inquiries would have uncovered such evidence.

Snopes has repeatedly covered satirical claims originating from The Borowitz Report, including a similar claim that Trump said his funeral would have a larger turnout than former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's.

Since the effectiveness of satire is subjective , we use " originated as satire " or " labeled satire " ratings based on creators' description of their work. It's your call on whether you agree.

Borowitz, Andy. About - The Borowitz Report . https://www.borowitzreport.com/about. Accessed 9 July 2026.

———. "Trump Says His Funeral Will Draw Much Bigger Crowd Than Ayatollah's." Facebook , 3 July 2026, https://www.facebook.com/andyborowitz/posts/pfbid0unJYN2Xbsz65WU8nKUNkDYXvMXE49adVuzfqtiM5NKyYZ7Uk7NVaGqZUx8CNu3gSl.

———. Trump Says His Funeral Will Draw Much Bigger Crowd Than Ayatollah's . https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/trump-says-his-funeral-will-draw. Accessed 9 July 2026.

Gritten, David. "Huge Crowds in Mashhad for Burial of Iran's Late Supreme Leader." BBC , 9 July 2026, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yzm8m4peeo.

Reuters. "Thousands March as Khamenei's Funeral Procession Crosses into Iraq." Reuters , 8 July 2026, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/thousands-march-khameneis-funeral-procession-crosses-into-iraq-2026-07-08/.

Spangler, Todd. "The New Yorker Drops Andy Borowitz's Satire Column Amid Cutbacks." Variety , 6 Dec. 2023, https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/new-yorker-drops-andy-borowitz-cutbacks-1235824249/.

"Trump Funeral Bigger than Ayatollah." Google Search , https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+funeral+bigger+than+ayatollah&sca_esv=120b594058bb96de&sxsrf=APpeQnvW2tYzajJIXcJtVp4V0fuWDfJenA%3A1783619935667&source=hp&ei=X-FPaqafJqyv0PEPptPZ4QU&iflsig=ABILxe8AAAAAak_vbynmySmgoUCAzvvqjclAz9rvq5gW&ved=0ahUKEwjmyrWFlsaVAxWsFzQIHaZpNlwQ4dUDCC0&uact=5&oq=trump+funeral+bigger+than+ayatollah&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IiN0cnVtcCBmdW5lcmFsIGJpZ2dlciB0aGFuIGF5YXRvbGxhaEitS1AAWMBKcAB4AJABAJgBaaABmxSqAQQzMi4zuAEDyAEA-AEBmAIVoAKBDMICCxAAGIAEGLEDGIMBwgIREC4YgAQYsQMYgwEYxwEY0QPCAgsQLhiABBixAxiDAcICDhAuGIAEGIoFGLEDGIMBwgIIEAAYgAQYsQPCAg4QLhiABBixAxjHARjRA8ICBRAAGIAEwgIOEAAYgAQYigUYsQMYgwHCAgQQABgDwgIIEAAYgAQYxwPCAgsQLhivARjHARiABMICBxAAGIAEGArCAgYQABgWGB7CAggQABgWGB4YCsICBRAAGO8FwgIIEAAYiQUYogTCAggQABiABBiiBJgDAJIHBDE3LjSgB_p6sgcEMTcuNLgHgQzCBwYxLjE2LjTIBy6ACAE&sclient=gws-wiz. Accessed 9 July 2026.

"'Trump Funeral Bigger than Ayatollah' ." Yahoo Search , https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=trump+funeral+bigger+crowd+ayatollah+&fr=yfp-t&fr2=p%3Afp%2Cm%3Asb&fp=1.

Trump Funeral Bigger than Ayatollah at DuckDuckGo . https://duckduckgo.com/?ia=web&origin=funnel_home_website&t=h_&q=trump+funeral+bigger+than+ayatollah&chip-select=search. Accessed 9 July 2026.

Rae Deng specializes in government/politics and is based in Tacoma, Wash.

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