Fake Iran nuclear post: How a fabricated X claim by Indian account created panic in Israel, US

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

51% : Azriel, a co-founder of the Bodkim fact-checking organisation, said the quotation "gained credibility every time an outlet or a politician repeated it," helping drive its spread.The claim soon crossed into the United States, where it was amplified by senior political figures and Fox News.Mike Waltz, the Trump administration's ambassador to the United Nations, reposted the quotation and wrote that Iran was "finally admitting what's been obvious for years".Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida also shared the claim on social media.Fox News host Bill Hemmer cited the purported statement during an interview with retired US Central Command commander Gen. Joseph L. Votel."That's as close to an admission as I have heard, and we've been watching this story for years," Hemmer said.The narrative subsequently began to unravel.
49% : Yet the claim quickly gained traction, with Israeli accounts and media outlets repeating it before it reached senior political figures in Israel and the United States.The episode, detailed by The New York Times, shows how an unverified social media post can acquire credibility as it is repeatedly cited by politicians, broadcasters and other accounts, even when its original source is unreliable.The fabricated quotation was first known to have appeared on an Indian X account with around 175,000 followers.
49% : He said he shared it because he believed Iran was determined to acquire a nuclear weapon, despite uncertainty over "whether those exact words were spoken."About 30 minutes later, Israel's Channel 14 shared the quotation in English and claimed it represented the first public acknowledgement by Iran that it was pursuing a nuclear bomb.
43% : According to the Israeli fact-checking organisation Bodkim Project, that account had published another fabricated quote attributed to Vahidi a week earlier.The narrative gained wider attention after it was shared by Mossad Commentary, a prominent Israeli X account that has no known connection to Israel's Mossad intelligence agency."The regime is not preparing to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
38% : Gen. Ahmad Vahidi had said Iran would not abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions as long as Israel and the United States possessed such weapons.There is no evidence that Vahidi made the statement, or that Iran has developed nuclear weapons.
34% : Tehran has maintained that its nuclear activities have civilian purposes rather than a military objective, although the precise status of its nuclear development remains contested.Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei criticised the fabricated claim and described it as "an example of the flood of lies against the Islamic republic."He blamed Israel for the narrative but did not provide evidence to support the allegation."The allegations of a link to a nuclear bomb are based on the same thing, a lie they have been feeding the international community for 20 years to justify military aggression," he told reporters on Sunday.Vahidi, who took command of the Revolutionary Guards in March, has issued numerous statements during the conflict but has not made the purported declaration about developing nuclear weapons.Last year, after a 12-day conflict with Israel that ended with US airstrikes, Vahidi discussed Iran's nuclear position in an interview with state media.

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