"Influence Operation on the USA": The denial of the fabricated quote and the echo in the Senate

Last Friday, Ronen Bergman exposed on Ynet the evolution of the dramatic statement by IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi - which was never actually said by him. It started in India, echoed in Israel and by the Prime Minister's son, and returned to India with an "Israeli kosher stamp". This statement implied that Iran is supposedly developing nuclear weapons. It was not a hint or a "threshold capability", but a clear statement and an official admission that could have been a global headline. An extensive search did not reveal any Iranian source for the remarks. No speech, no video, no transcript, no Iranian news agency, and no independent report by Reuters, AP, or AFP. But the denial did arrive. In the "Tehran Times" newspaper, published in English in Iran, they cited an "informed source" who responded to the remarks published in the English branch of Channel 14: "The source strongly rejected such statements and described the reports as false". The Iranian newspaper accused the "Israeli regime" of "new fabrications after two wars against Iran" and attempts to hide the "old lie" of an Iranian nuclear bomb, which has been circulating for over 30 years.

The publication, which started in a Hindu nationalist account, quickly reached Channel 14 in English. The claim published on that channel became news that spread like wildfire, even though the Hebrew channel did not publish it at all. The English account claimed that this was "the first time an Iranian official directly admits to developing a nuclear bomb". Something that did not even have a source five hours earlier became a historical event.

This "historical" statement also reached the speech of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mount Herzl, when he declared: "We heard today the IRGC commander Vahidi explicitly declaring Iran's intention to continue developing nuclear weapons". The wildfire reached the US Ambassador to the UN, who deleted the post, and the Fox News network. Even in the US Senate, the report on Ahmad Vahidi's dramatic words echoed. Republican Senator Rick Scott from Florida, the state's former governor, wrote on his X account, quoting the words published on Channel 14 as a fact: "Iran proves what we always knew - and clarifies its intentions. We must never allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons".

Lawrence Norman, a Wall Street Journal reporter who deals extensively with the Iranian nuclear issue, raised an eyebrow: "This could be very significant. But where else is this reported? Anywhere?". The source still has not arrived.

In Israel, there were those who saw this report as an illegal influence operation, targeting both Israeli citizens and the USA. This publication reminded some of the reports in the "Jewish Chronicle" and "Bild", which fit almost miraculously with the messages that Benjamin Netanyahu sought to promote around September 2024. The information goes abroad, receives a suit of "publication in foreign media", and returns to Israel as external, supposedly independent evidence.

Two years ago, security officials called that affair of leaks and distortions an "illegal influence operation on blue", meaning on the Israeli side, against which state officials are forbidden to conduct propaganda and disinformation operations. One of them then added the more accurate definition: "'Shmatte' (rag) influence operation" - coarse seams and forgeries that are not difficult to expose. On Friday, the same person said: "Again someone is conducting an illegal influence operation, only this time it is also on the United States. One just needs to look at the seams before the fake manages to reach a Prime Minister, an ambassador, and an American TV channel".

The Prime Minister's Office responded last Friday: "The State of Israel stands completely behind the Prime Minister's statement that the IRGC regime in Iran aspires to develop nuclear weapons".