False: No evidence the IRGC ordered all civilians in Gulf countries to evacuate immediately

Claim

A TikTok video circulating online claims that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued an urgent warning ordering all civilians in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan, as well as all sailors in the Arabian Gulf, to immediately evacuate because the Strait of Hormuz “will be the first to be destroyed.”

Findings:

A reverse image search of the video led us to its original source on Pearl FM’s YouTube channel. In the broadcast, the presenter reads what he describes as an “IRGC urgent warning” while also discussing several unverified geopolitical claims involving Israel, Russia, Türkiye and Iran. This fact check focuses solely on verifying the alleged IRGC warning.

We searched for the alleged IRGC statement using keywords from the message and reviewed reports from reputable international news organizations covering the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

We searched for the alleged statement using key phrases from the broadcast and found no official IRGC statement containing the wording quoted by the presenter.

We traced the wording of the alleged IRGC warning to a Facebook page named “Iran updates”, where it was posted before it appeared in the Pearl FM broadcast. The page is not verified by Meta as an official government, military or news organization, and it does not cite any official IRGC statement or source for the claim. 

We also conducted a search using the Debunk Info Verifier and it retrieved two sources related to recent IRGC statements: an IranWire report and a Pravda USA article. The IranWire report documented an IRGC warning that Iran would give a “crushing response” to any aggression by the United States or Israel, while the Pravda USA article discussed the IRGC’s warning to Gulf states over hosting U.S. missile launchers. Neither source contains the statement quoted in the TikTok video instructing civilians in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan, or sailors in the Arabian Gulf, to evacuate immediately. 

The wording quoted by the presenter also differs significantly from the language used in official Iranian statements, which typically focus on military, strategic or political objectives rather than issuing blanket evacuation orders to civilians across several sovereign states.

We reviewed reports from reputable international news organizations covering the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Our findings show that:

• Iran has made several official statements warning that it could target U.S. military assets and regional infrastructure if attacks against it continue.
• Iranian officials have also threatened to close or disrupt navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global shipping route.
• The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued aviation advisories warning airlines to avoid parts of the Gulf region because of the heightened security risks.

Methodology:

To verify the claim, we:

• Conducted a Google Reverse Image Search to identify the original source of the TikTok clip.
• Located the original Pearl FM YouTube broadcast and reviewed the full context in which the presenter read the alleged warning.
• Searched for the alleged IRGC statement using distinctive keywords and phrases from the broadcast, traced the wording to its online source, and compared it with official IRGC communications and reports from credible news organizations to determine whether the alleged warning had been officially issued. 
• Reviewed reporting from Reuters and other credible international news organizations covering developments involving Iran, the IRGC and the Strait of Hormuz.

Verdict: False. Although Iran and the IRGC have issued warnings about potential military escalation and the Strait of Hormuz during the ongoing conflict, there is no credible evidence that the IRGC issued the mass evacuation warning quoted in the video. The claim that civilians across multiple Gulf countries and all sailors in the Arabian Gulf were officially instructed by the IRGC to leave immediately could not be substantiated by any official source or credible news reporting.