Video Of S Jaishankar Admitting Loss Of 3 Rafale Jets Is Manipulated

A purported video of Union External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar speaking with Newsweek CEO Dev Pragad where he admits to India losing three Rafale fighter jets in the recent clash with Pakistan is manipulated.

BOOM found that the video has been altered using AI.

The video includes a fabricated line attributed to him, in which he supposedly says, “We had already lost three Rafales to Pakistan two days ago, so it was very unfair of them to attack, but they did it anyway.” In the original interview, Jaishankar makes no such statement about Rafale jets.

The Claim

An X user shared the video with the caption: "JUST IN: Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar stated that India lost three French-made Rafale fighter jets during clashes with Pakistan." Click here to view the post and here for an archive

What We Found: Video Is Manipulated; Jaishankar Did Not Make The Statement

1. Original Interview with Newsweek: BOOM found the original interview of S. Jaishankar, live-streamed by the official YouTube channel of India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on July 1, 2025. Reviewing the full video, we were unable to find any statement on the loss of three Rafale jets, cueing us to the possibility of the statement being artificially added into the viral clip.

2. Unusual Expression in Viral Video: In the viral video, Jaishankar is heard talking about the loss of Rafale jets. But we noticed some strange jitters and changes in his facial expressions that aren't seen in the original live stream video.

3. The Rafale Jet Controversy: After India’s Operation Sindoor, the Prime Minister of Pakistan claimed that its military had shot down three Rafale jets used in the operation. The Indian government has not officially confirmed or denied this claim. However, in an interview with Bloomberg, General Anil Chauhan, Chief of Defence Staff of the Indian Armed Forces, acknowledged that India lost unspecified number of fighter jets during the clash, without clarifying the type of aircraft.

4. AI Detector Gives Mixed Results: For further verification, we trimmed out the Rafale statement portion from the viral video and tested it using the deepfake detection tool Deepfake-o-meter. The tool analysed the clip and gave mixed results, with 5 out of 10 parameters indicating a likelihood of AI manipulation. We also tested that part of the audio using Resemble AI's voice detection tool, which identified it as fake.

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