The Fake Iranian Nuclear Quote That Fooled Netanyahu, Fox News, and the US Senate

No authentic Iranian source for the quote has ever surfaced. There is no speech, video, transcript, Iranian state-media report, or independent account from Reuters, AP, or AFP corroborating that Vahidi said anything of the kind ^[1]. Tehran Times later published comments from an "informed source" who "strongly rejected" the reports as fabrications ^[1]. Wall Street Journal reporter Laurence Norman publicly questioned the claim's provenance — asking where else it had been reported — before Ynetnews traced the entire chain back to the single, unverified August 5 post ^[1].

About two hours after Channel 14's report, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited the claim in an address at Mount Herzl, saying: "We heard today IRGC commander Vahidi explicitly declare Iran's intention to continue developing nuclear weapons. 'Continue,' that's what he said" ^[2]. Roughly thirteen hours after the original post, on August 6, Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer read a version of the fabricated quote on air — "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" — and asked retired general Joseph Votel whether Vahidi had "said the quiet part out loud" ^[3]. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz reposted Channel 14's version before deleting it, and Florida Senator Rick Scott cited the claim on X as "proving what we've always known" ^[1][2].

The quote is fabricated, and Fox News itself retracted it. A week later, Hemmer told viewers the quote was "incorrectly attributed," adding "since that time, we've learned that quote was unverified and inaccurate, and we regret that error" ^[3]. Israeli security officials described the episode as an "illegal influence campaign" — a claim seeded abroad, laundered through friendly accounts until it looks like independent "foreign media" reporting, then reimported as confirmation ^[1][2]. In under 24 hours, an unverified post from a single X account reached a prime minister's podium, a UN ambassador's timeline, a sitting U.S. senator, and a national cable broadcast — and only Fox News has formally corrected the record.