A deepfake of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor appearing to show him praising Pakistan for stepping in to end the ongoing US-Iran war and criticising the Indian government over a “strategic failure” has surfaced online.
BOOM found the original interview of Tharoor with India Today which predates the West Asia conflict.
The video is being shared after US President Donald Trump credited Pakistan for mediating a temporary ceasefire between Iran and US.
In the viral 1-minute-long video, Tharoor purportedly says, "If you saw Donald Trump's latest tweet crediting Pakistan with stepping in to end the Iranian war, you know why I am in shock. It feels like a massive strategic failure by the Indian government. I have never criticised Prime Minister Modi or the BJP before, but today silence is just blind loyalty."
Besides that, Tharoor also appears to praise Pakistan for “rebranding itself as a global net stability provider” and mocking Indians for celebrating cinematic fantasies like the film 'Dhurandhar 2' while losing in the real world. Dhurandhar - The Revenge, sequel to the 2025 spy-action thriller Dhurandhar, released on March 19, 2026, saw massive popularity among Indian audiences and beyond, which Tharoor appears to be referring to here.
The Claim
The video was posted by pro-Pakistan X handle @InsiderWb with the caption, "Breaking: Shashi Tharoor rips apart Modi Government "If you saw Donald Trump’s latest tweet crediting Pakistan with stepping in to end the Iranian war, you know why I am standing here in shock. It feels like a massive strategic failure by the Indian government."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Pakistani journalists Kamran Khan, Syed Sammer Abbas also amplified the same video via X posts.
The X handle @InsiderWb has earlier posted deepfake videos featuring Shashi Tharoor and Indian government officials, which BOOM debunked. Read here.
What We Found: Viral Video Is A Deepfake
1. The Original News Broadcast: A reverse image search of keyframes led to an older interview of Shashi Tharoor with veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai on India Today, aired on December 26, 2025, before the ongoing conflict.
In the interview, both Sardesai and Tharoor are seen in the same attire as in the viral video, and the background also matches the original broadcast.
Notably, the viral clip features a fabricated masthead reading, “India Loses At Global Stage,” which does not appear in the original telecast.
2. AI Voice Detector Tool Flags Manipulation: For further confirmation, we tested a voice sample of Tharoor from the viral video on the AI voice detector tool Hiya, which gave a low authenticity score, indicating that the voice in the video is digitally manipulated.
Tharoor also raised concerns about deepfake videos of him circulating online and urged followers to rely only on his verified social media handles for authentic updates.
