Following the June 15, 2026, World Cup match between Iran and New Zealand, a rumor spread that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security deported Iranian player Mohammad Mohebi after he celebrated a goal with a "gun gesture."
For example, an X user claimed on June 16 (archived), "BREAKING: Iran player Mohammed Mohebi has been deported back to Iran after his gun celebration vs New Zealand." The post received more than 4.5 million views, as of this writing.
(X user @TheBallZoneX.)
The story spread as leaders of Iran and the U.S. discussed an initial deal to end their war, and U.S. officials reportedly asked Iran's World Cup team to leave the country. The rumor about Mohebi appeared widely on Facebook, as well as X. Some users seemed to interpret the claim as true. Several Snopes readers contacted us to investigate its legitimacy.
We first used search engines such as DuckDuckGo, Bing and Yahoo. If the DHS had really deported Mohebi (or any member of a World Cup team), 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.
The search results contained articles about U.S. officials reportedly asking the Iranian team to return to Tijuana, Mexico, "only a few hours" after the match against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15, per The Associated Press. However, we did not find any credible reporting about the DHS deporting Mohebi.
Mohebi did the gesture — he depicted a gun with his hands — after scoring a goal in the 2-2 match against New Zealand. He told reporters afterwards the sign was nothing more than a celebratory gesture.
We identified the rumor's original source: a social media account that describes its posts, including the story about Mohebi, as satirical.
X user Ball Zone first shared the rumor on June 16 (archived). The account's bio reads: "Home of football jokes - Satire."
Although numerous real images of Mohebi making the gun gesture exist, the image that accompanied a popular post with the fictional deportation story was either generated or edited using artificial intelligence software. According to an analysis by OpenAI's free watermark testing tool, the image's creator used the platform's tools to either create or edit the photo.
(openai.com/research/verify/)
As of this writing, the Iranian team is scheduled to play Belgium in Seattle on June 21.
Snopes has debunked similar fictional claims about sports before. For example, following the New York Knicks winning the NBA championship in June 2026, we alerted readers to a fake story about the team supposedly declining an invitation to visit the White House.