Fact Check: Jaishankar admits India lost 3 Rafale jets during Operation Sindoor? No, viral video is manipulated

Hyderabad: Claims that Pakistan shot down India’s Rafale jets during Operation Sindoor continue to circulate on social media.

Indian officials, including the Army, have acknowledged in interviews and conferences that some losses were incurred. However, they have not confirmed the number or the specific types of fighter jets involved.

In this context, a video of external affairs minister S Jaishankar purportedly admitting that India lost three Rafale jets has been circulating on social media. In the video, he could be heard saying, “Pakistan did attack us massively that night, 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. We responded very quickly after that, and the next morning, Mr Rubio called me up and said that Pakistan is ready to talk.”

One X user shared the video, claiming, “India’s minister of external affairs, Jaishankar, admits India lost three Rafale jets in a dog fight with Pakistan.” (Archive)

Similar claims can be found here and here.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim about Jaishankar admitting to India losing three Rafale jets during Operation Sindoor is false. The viral clip has been manipulated.

After listening to the audio of the viral clip multiple times, we observed that the voice saying ‘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’ did not match the original voice of the minister. We could clearly distinguish two different voices in the clip. Also, there was a noticeable discrepancy in the lip-syncing of Jaishankar. This alerted us that the video could be manipulated.

Next, we conducted a reverse image search of the clip’s keyframes and found an extended version of the interview published by the American media outlet Newsweek on July 1.

According to the channel, Jaishankar had a detailed conversation with Dev Pragad, the CEO of Newsweek. In this conversation, Jaishankar discussed India’s foreign relations, its goals, challenges and strategic concerns, involving major countries and figures, such as the United States and its president Donald Trump, China and Pakistan.

After 43:05 minutes, the viral clip appears in the video, and Jaishankar could be heard saying, “Pakistan did attack us massively that night. We responded very quickly after that, and the next morning, Mr Rubio called me up and said that Pakistan is ready to talk.” This confirmed that the statement on India losing three Rafale jets has been added to the viral clip.

We also found that the conversation between Jaishankar and Dev Pragad was live-streamed on the minister’s X handle on July 1. Around the 43-minute mark, the same discussion about Pakistan’s massive attack, India’s swift response and Rubio’s call informing that Pakistan was willing to talk appeared in the same sequence. However, we did not find any instance of Jaishankar admitting that India lost three Rafale jets during the dogfight in Operation Sindoor.