Iran-Israel War
Multiple misleading posts have circulated on social media regarding Pakistan’s alleged involvement in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.
These posts, emerging after Israel’s attack on Iran on June 13 and subsequent Iranian retaliatory strikes, have falsely claimed that Pakistan has taken a confrontational stance in the conflict, with supposed statements from prominent international leaders.
One viral post features a 41-second video clip purportedly showing US President Donald J. Trump claiming that Pakistan threatened to attack Israel if it continued its strikes on Iran. The clip also suggests that Trump advised Pakistan to stay out of the Israel-Iran conflict. However, this claim is entirely false.
Upon investigation, the clip was found to be manipulated. The original footage actually dates back to May 30, well before the recent escalation between Israel and Iran. On that day, Trump held a press conference at the White House alongside businessman Elon Musk, discussing a broad range of topics unrelated to the current Middle East crisis.
A reverse image search traced the original video to this May 30 press event, where Trump only briefly mentions Pakistan at around the 13-minute mark—expressing thanks to the leaders of India and Pakistan for helping resolve a conflict between the two countries earlier that month.
Crucially, there is no reference to Pakistan threatening Israel or any advice to stay out of the war. Further technical analysis using AI detection tools conducted by Anees Qureshi from Bytes for All revealed that the audio in the viral clip is 99.8% likely to be artificially generated. This strongly indicates that the voice attributed to Trump was synthetically produced rather than authentic.
Another false claim spreading online involves a video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The viral post alleges that Netanyahu, in a televised address on June 13, admitted that Israel previously “made a mistake” by allowing Pakistan to develop nuclear weapons and that Israel would not repeat this mistake with Iran. This claim is also false and misleading.
The original footage is from Netanyahu’s June 13 speech, but at no point does he mention Pakistan or criticize its nuclear program. The video has been digitally manipulated to insert this fabricated statement.
A thorough review of Netanyahu’s official speeches since June 13 on the Israeli government’s website confirms no such remarks about Pakistan’s nuclear status. Fact-checkers, including Geo Fact Check, have verified that these statements attributed to Netanyahu are completely fabricated.
In conclusion, neither President Donald Trump advised Pakistan to avoid involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict, nor did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticize Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities in recent speeches.
These misleading posts reflect the dangers of misinformation spreading amid geopolitical crises, emphasizing the need for careful verification of viral content.
