AdvertisementVahidi, according to the X post, carried a quote: “There will be no discussion over enriched uranium or nuclear weapons.
As long as the US and Israel possess nuclear weapons, we will continue working on them for our national security.
"Today, we heard the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Vahidi, explicitly declare Iran’s intention to continue developing nuclear weapons".
A screenshot of the ANI story on the fake post.
Why this fake post mattersThis particular fake claim was sensitive because it unfolded as US President Donald Trump was trying to create room for diplomacy with Tehran.
An Indian account by the name, @Im_Ritikaa, fabricated a quote falsely attributing it to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Ahmad Vahidi. The post, viewed by thousands, claimed that Tehran would continue pursuing nuclear weapons as long as Israel and the US did. It quickly spread across the world and managed to enter a speech by Benjamin Netanyahu and comments made by US officials
On August 5, a claim went viral around the world — it was shared by news channels, American senators and leaders, and even Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The problem with the post that eventually marred US-Iran talks to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz — it was part of a fake news campaign.
The incident highlights how quickly an unverified social media claim can acquire the appearance of credibility.
So, what exactly happened?
The fake post at the centre of it all
On August 5, an X handle by the name @Im_Ritikaa, who describes themselves as a “proud Indian”, posted a message that the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Ahmad Vahidi, vowed that his country would never give up its nuclear weapon ambitions as long as Israel and the United States possessed those weapons.
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Vahidi, according to the X post, carried a quote: “There will be no discussion over enriched uranium or nuclear weapons. As long as the US and Israel possess nuclear weapons, we will continue working on them for our national security. If they disarm, we will disarm.”
There is no evidence that Iran has built a nuclear weapon or is working towards this aim. In fact, the Islamic Republic has always maintained that its nuclear programme has always been for civilian purposes. However, that did not stop the claim from spreading rapidly.
On further investigation, @Im_Ritikaa, the X handle was created in November 2021 and then verified by X in December 2025. Additionally, the username has changed four times, with the last username change recorded in September 2022.
The account boasting of 175,000 followers has also been criticised by fact-checkers and the government of Pakistan for sharing false and Islamophobic content.
The fake post travels from India to Israel
Soon after the post was created, it spread to Israel with Mossad Commentary, which presents itself as an unofficial account of Israel’s intelligence agency on X but has no connection to the Mossad foreign intelligence agency, repeating the claim to its more than one million followers.
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“The regime is not preparing to abandon its nuclear ambitions. It is buying time. There will be no deal,” said the account, which according to a New York Times report belongs to Gedaliah Blum, an entrepreneur who leads the Heartland Institute, an organization that organises tours and other promotional exchanges in Israel.
Israel’s Channel 14 repeated the alleged Vahidi quote, describing it as the first direct admission by an Iranian official that Tehran was developing a nuclear bomb. It did not provide a primary source for the quotation and quickly spread like wildfire, racking up more than 400,000 views.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Netanyahu referred to the alleged statement during an official ceremony in Jerusalem.
"Today, we heard the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Vahidi, explicitly declare Iran’s intention to continue developing nuclear weapons". File image/Reuters
Hours later, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair, a podcaster and political consultant who lives near Miami, reposted the content.
Three hours later, the fake content popped up in Netanyahu’s speech too. “We heard today the commander of the IRGC, Vahidi, explicitly declaring Iran’s intention to keep developing nuclear weapons,” the prime minister said at Mount Herzl, Israel’s national cemetery in Jerusalem.
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He went on to add, “Well, as prime minister of Israel, I am determined to continue. Determined to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear weapons.”
The US amplifies the fake post
In Washington, Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the United Nations, shared the claim online, saying Iran was “finally admitting what’s been obvious for years.”
US Senator Rick Scott of Florida also reposted it, and Fox News also covered the claim. Anchor Bill Hemmer read the fake claim while interviewing former US Central Command chief General Joseph Votel and described it as being about as close to an Iranian admission as he had heard.
However, shortly after posting the claim, Waltz’s post was removed without any explanation. Similarly, Fox News acknowledged on air that the quotation was “unverified and inaccurate” and said it regretted the error.
The fake post circles back to India
Surprisingly, after the post went viral in Israel and found mention by the US, India’s news agency, ANI, reported the story, quoting “Israeli media”.
A screenshot of the ANI story on the fake post. Image Courtesy: X
The news agency stated in its copy, “Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Ahmad Vahidi has said that Iran will continue working on nuclear weapons as long as the United States and Israel possess them.” It cited its source as “Israeli media”, but it failed to mention any particular outlet.
Why this fake post matters
This particular fake claim was sensitive because it unfolded as US President Donald Trump was trying to create room for diplomacy with Tehran. In fact, the post went viral three days after Trump said he was halting attacks on Iran to give peace negotiations a chance.
As Darren L Linvill of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, who studies disinformation and propaganda spread on social media, told the New York Times, “This quote was clearly crafted to drive a wedge into peace negotiations.”
He further noted that the spread of the claim is a textbook case of narrative laundering, a tactic that propagandists use to seed and then shuffle falsehoods through enough sources to make them seem authentic.
“It is a simple campaign,” he added, “but simple campaigns can still be very effective, and this seems to have certainly had bang for the buck.”
Iran’s response to the fake post
Reacting to this incident, the spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, Esmail Baghaei, criticised the fake post, calling it “an example of the flood of lies against the Islamic Republic.”
He blamed Israel, but did not cite evidence.
“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 said.
With inputs from agencies
