Netanyahu Cited a Fake Iranian Nuclear Quote That Started With an Indian X Account

A quote attributed to IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi, one supposedly admitting Iran intends to keep building nuclear weapons, worked its way from an anonymous Indian social media account into a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It then reached Fox News and Republican Senator Rick Scott's office. Nobody can find where it actually came from.

According to Ynet's investigation by New York Times contributor Ronen Bergman, the quote first appeared on August 5, 2026, posted by an X account under the name Ritikaa, described by Ynet as a verified, Hindu-nationalist, pro-Israel account based in India. India Today reports the account has existed since November 2021, changed its display name multiple times, and posted a GIF of Vahidi with explosions in the background alongside the quote, translated into Hindi.

The quote read: "There will be no discussion over enriched uranium or nuclear weapons. As long as the United States and Israel possess nuclear weapons, we will continue working on them for our national security. If they disarm, we will disarm."

Roughly four and a half hours later, an account called Mossad Commentary picked it up and pushed it to more than a million followers, according to Ynet and Middle East Eye. That account brands itself as an unofficial mouthpiece of Israel's intelligence service, but it has no actual connection to Mossad. India Today notes the Associated Press previously investigated the account and found it impersonates the agency, and that Israel's own military told AP the account is "clearly not an official account."

From there, Israel's Channel 14 ran with it, calling the quote the first direct admission by an Iranian official that Tehran was building a bomb, without citing a primary source. Middle East Eye and ZeroHedge both note that Channel 14 is widely seen in Israel as aligned with Netanyahu's government, and that a recent report found the Israeli government purchased significant commercial airtime from the channel.

Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister's son, reposted the claim to his roughly 300,000 followers, according to Ynet. Days later, his father used it in a public address: "Today, we heard the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Vahidi, explicitly declare Iran's intention to continue developing nuclear weapons, 'continue,' as he put it," Netanyahu said, according to Ynet's reporting.

From Israel the claim reportedly reached the United States, cited according to Ynet by Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the United Nations, and repeated on Fox News and by Senator Rick Scott. Ynet's investigation traced the same claim boomeranging back to India, where it was then reported as a story validated by "Israeli media," a loop that gave an unsourced tweet the appearance of confirmed intelligence.

There is a real problem underneath all this. Iran's actual nuclear intentions are a serious, unresolved question, and Tehran's decades of denials carry limited credibility given the country's uranium enrichment history and its Supreme Leader's past religious edicts against nuclear weapons, which critics note leave plenty of room for creative interpretation. That's the legitimate concern driving hawks in Israel and Washington to treat any hint of an admission as significant. A real admission by an IRGC commander would be major news.

But nobody has produced one. Ynet's search found no Iranian speech, video, transcript, state news agency report, or independent wire report from Reuters, AP, or AFP backing the quote. Iran's Tehran Times published a denial, citing what it called an "informed source" who "strongly rejected" the claims and accused what it called "Israeli regime media" of fabrication.

Middle East Eye and ZeroHedge, both citing the same Ynet-Bergman reporting, framed the episode as Netanyahu's team amplifying disinformation without verification. India Today added the additional detail that the Ritikaa account had changed its username four times, calling that a credibility red flag. A commentary piece circulated by Shaiel Ben-Ephraim went further, calling it part of "a well oiled machine of disinformation emanating from Netanyahu and his circle" designed to torpedo negotiations with Iran, an allegation that is Ben-Ephraim's own characterization, not something established by the underlying reporting.

What's actually verifiable: an unsourced quote moved from an anonymous foreign account to a head of government's official remarks in a matter of days, and from there to a US ambassador, a sitting senator, and a major American cable network, without anyone in that chain apparently checking whether an Iranian commander said it. No outlet named in this reporting, including Fox News or Senator Scott's office, has issued a correction or explained how the quote was vetted before use. Whether that gets addressed, or simply fades, is the open question.