U.S. Political Figures and Fox News Amplify Fabricated Iran Nuclear Claim from Indian Social Media Account
A fabricated quote attributed to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards commander, Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, claiming Iran would not abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions, originated from an anonymous Indian X (formerly Twitter) account. This false claim quickly gained traction, spreading to Israeli media and senior U.S. political figures, including Mike Waltz, the Trump administration's ambassador to the United Nations, and Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida. Fox News host Bill Hemmer also cited the purported statement during an interview with retired U.S. Central Command commander Gen. Joseph L. Votel. The original post, which included a photograph of Vahidi and an AI-generated mushroom cloud, contained spelling and grammatical errors. The narrative began to unravel when Waltz's post was removed from X, and Fox News later acknowledged the quote was "unverified and inaccurate" after inquiries from The New York Times. Despite this, some posts, including Senator Scott's, remained online. 
