Republican congressman posts fake photo of Obama shaking hands with Iran president Hassan Rouhani

Conservative politician claims he knew picture was doctored after online backlash

A Republican congressman has shared a doctored photo of Barack Obama supposedly shaking hands with Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani in an attempt to criticise the former US leader.

Paul Gosar, a member of Congress for Arizona, tweeted the fake photo with the caption “The world is a better place without these guys in power” in a series of posts about the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

However, Mr Obama and Mr Rouhani have never met in person and the original picture shows the former US president shaking hands with Manmohan Singh, then-prime minister of India, instead.

When multiple reporters pointed out that the image was fake, Mr Gosar responded by insisting he knew the photo was doctored before he posted it and criticising people who suggested he did not know Mr Rouhani is still in power.

“To the dim witted reporters… no one said this wasn’t photoshopped. No one said the president of Iran was dead. No one said Obama met with Rouhani in person,” he tweeted.

The post is the latest example of Mr Gosar spreading misinformation on his Twitter account, which has repeatedly promoted conspiracy theories.

In November, the Republican congressman shared a series of 23 tweets which used the first letter in each post to spell out the phrase “Epstein didn’t kill himself” in reference to the death of serial sexual abuser and convicted trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

In the same month, he retweeted a post by congressman Steve King which falsely suggested Alexander Soros, the son of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, was the whistleblower whose complaint started the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump.

Mr Gosar has also suggested without evidence that the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in 2017 was funded by George Soros – a claim which was spread by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

The Arizona congressman rose to national attention during the 2018 midterms when the Democratic candidate in his district ran an advert that featured damning criticism of his time in office from his siblings.

“He's not listening to you, and he doesn't have your interests at heart,” Tim Gosar said in the ad, as he endorsed his brother’s opponent David Brill.

Despite the rebuke, Mr Gosar won the district, which has been a safe Republican seat since 2012, with more than 68 per cent of the vote.