Kathmandu, June 17: Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar speaks during the Senate session, June 16.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Dar on Monday dismissed an alleged video circulating online of an Iranian official saying Pakistan will attack Israel with nuclear weapons, amid the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel.

Nearly 80 people, including top army officers, were killed while civilians were among over 300 wounded in Iran as a result of Israeli strikes on military sites and private residences on June 13. Iran subsequently launched its own retaliation with ballistic missiles fired at Israel and the two countries continued to exchange a volley over the weekend.

Posts from multiple Indian and others users on social media platforms and Indian media outlets since Sunday shared a video of Iranian National Security Council member Mohsen Rezaei, claiming that he said Pakistan told Iran that if Israel drops a nuclear bomb on Tehran, Pakistan would retaliate in kind amid current tensions. However, fact-checking platform iVerify Pakistan concluded that the video was doctored, and the Iranian official had not made any such statement.

Addressing the matter during Monday’s Senate session, FM Dar said, “There is a video on social media where an Iranian general was quoted as saying: ‘If Israel nuke attacks Iran, then Pakistan will attack [Israel] with nuclear weapons.’”

“This is irresponsible and false news,” he said, adding that the claims had become viral on the internet, and that even UK news outlet Daily Mail picked it up.

He said, “From our side, there has been no such statement. It was fabricated.”

He also addressed an alleged video of US President Donald Trump allegedly urging Pakistan to stay out of the Israel-Iran conflict. Similarly, he said that a widely circulated interview of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, purported to be recent, was in fact from 2011. Such deceptive content is causing confusion and is being monitored closely by the Foreign Office, he told the Senate.

Dar said, “We have checked that it was an AI-generated clip and it was fake.”

He cautioned that everyone must be careful, saying, “This is not a children’s matter. This is a serious war like ours with India.”

DAWN, Pakistan