Viral video of Indian home minister admitting to losing 4 Rafale jets during May 2025 conflict

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted an AI deepfake detection analysis to assess the authenticity of the video and performed a keyword and reverse image search to identify the original source.

Multiple people on social media platform X shared a video on November 4, 2025, that allegedly showed Indian Home Minister Amit Shah admitting to the loss of four Rafale Jets during the May 2025 standoff between India and Pakistan. However, the video is doctored.

Pakistan and India fought in a four-day conflict earlier in May 2025. Indian fighter jets were shot down by the Pakistan Air Force on the night of May 6-7 in response to the Indian Air Force’s late-night missile strikes at six Pakistani sites, including Subhan Mosque in Bahawalpur’s Ahmedpur East, Bilal Mosque in Muzaffarabad, Abbas Mosque in Kotli, Umalkura Mosque in Muridke, the village of Kotki Lohara in Sialkot district, and Shakargarh.

Pakistan took down six Indian jets, including three advanced French Rafale planes. According to a Dawn report, three Rafales, one Su-30MKI, one Mirage 2000 and one MiG-29 were downed within a 40-minute span. Not one Pakistani jet crossed the border or engaged in close combat.

HOW IT STARTED

On Nov 4, an X account, that appears to be anti-Indian based upon its previous posts and is known for repeatedly sharing AI-altered videos, posted a clip with the following caption: “Breaking; Indian Home Minister Amit Shah blasts Pakistan for attacking Kabul, claims,’Pakistan has begun considering itself as an Asian Tiger but it has forgotten all about the economic power of Modern India. No destroyed Rafales or S400 can end it.”

The post gained over 55,300 views.

The transcript of the video is provided below:

“If you look at the courage of this Pakistan and its military leader, when the Afghan Minister of Internal Affairs Shri Muttaqi came to India, he started bombing Kabul. This country has now started to think of itself as the Asian Tiger. Fine, let’s say you shot down four of our Rafales and even destroyed one S-400 system — but remember, we still have thirty Rafales and thirty S-400 systems left. You can’t compete with our economy.”

The same video with similar claims was shared by multiple PML-N supporters and pro-military accounts on X, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen public interest in the military conflict between India and Pakistan.

Checking the video shows that there is a factual error since Shah can be heard referring to Muttaqi as the Afghan interior minister when he is actually the foriegn minister. The Afghan interior minister is Sirajuddin Haqqani.

Analysing the video using the forensic tool Deepware to determine the authenticity of the video, it flagged it at 82 per cent for deepfake detection.

A reverse-image search conducted to trace the original footage yielded a video uploaded on November 2, 2025, by Shah himself on his X account with the following caption: “The enthusiasm of the people of Vaishali, the birthplace of democracy, is indicating that once again an NDA government is coming to power in Bihar. Addressing a public meeting in Mahua (Vaishali)…”

In the video, Shah delivered an address during a public power show in Mahua, Vaishali district of Bihar, ahead of the state elections. At no point did he make any remarks about Pakistan downing four Rafales

The address was covered by other Indian media outlets as well, such as Times Now, The Print, and The Indian Express; with none of the videos mentioning any remarks about Pakistan downing four Rafales.

A keyword search also did not yield any report from credible mainstream international, Indian or Pakistani outlets on any such remarks.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a viral video shows Indian Home Minister Amit Shah acknowledging Pakistan downed four Rafales during the May 2025 conflict is false.

The clip is doctored and has been dubbed over through AI-generated audio.

Evidence and References

Nov 2, 2025, Amit Shah X post:
https://x.com/AmitShah/status/1984893994640265612

Nov 2, 2025, Times Now YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VfAsSiDwCts

Nov 2, 2025, The Print YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hRQm3qH5ro

Nov 2, 2025, The Indian Express YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkDgNaGnqxY