As war in the Middle East persists ahead of a G7 meeting in France, a video circulating online purports to show Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘tacitly’ declaring war on Pakistan and Iran. However, this is false; the footage, taken from Modi's address at the NXT Summit in Delhi, was altered. The broadcaster of the original footage also denied the claim.

“India tacitly declared total war with Pakistan, by extension Iran and completely aligned with Israel agenda to lead the Middle East (sic),” reads an Instagram post published by a Nigerian account on March 12, 2026.

The post includes footage of Modi speaking behind a podium and claims the Indian prime minister said in Hindi that “Iran will have to answer for spreading terrorism across the whole region”.

To this, Modi purportedly added: “Our target remains Pakistan and, to achieve this target, it is imperative that the current Iranian regime falls and Israel completely takes it over. This is the only path for Greater Israel and Akhand Bharat.”

An “ANI” logo for the multimedia news agency Asian News International is prominently displayed in the top right corner of the clip.

Similar claims were shared on Threads and Facebook.

Modi spoke on March 12 at the NXT Summit 2026, a three-day leadership conference held in New Delhi, India, during which he outlined India's energy and green growth strategy (archived here).

However, claims about Modi’s speech inferring a declaration of war on Pakistan and Iran are false.

What Modi said

A day after Modi's address, ANI reported that he said all countries were affected by the global energy crisis caused by the Iran war, but avoided political commentary (archived here).

The news agency published several clips of Modi speaking at the summit on social media, but none of them shows him declaring war. 

ANI later refuted the claim in a March 13 post via X (archived here).

“The below ‘X’ handle has posted an AI-manipulated video. No such comment was made by PM Narendra Modi,” it reads.

The X account cited by ANI belongs to a Nigerian influencer and ruling party supporter, Adama Garba, who has a reputation for peddling misinformation, including false claims about the country's 2023 presidential elections (archived here, here and here).

The social media platform X has since tagged Garba’s post with a disclaimer that the clip of Modi’s speech at NXT 2026 shows “manipulated media” (archived here).

Garba’s timeline on X is filled with content about the Iran war, some of it misleading or false.

AFP Fact Check transcribed the audio from the clip for further analysis.

A comparison of Modi’s speech from one of the clips posted by ANI on March 12, 2026, and the version contained in the video shared by Garba and others reveals that the original audio was altered (archived here).

“There's a lot of discussion these days about LPG. Some people are trying to create panic and pursue their own agenda. I don't want to comment on them politically at this time,”  reads the English caption shared by ANI and confirmed by AFP Fact Check.

“But I will definitely say that by doing so, they are exposing themselves to the public and causing significant harm to the entire country,” it adds.

Modi also emphasised that efforts are ongoing to overcome supply chain issues and reduce India's reliance on foreign energy sources.

There is no record of him making the statements alleged in the false posts.

Analysis of the clip's audio using InVID WeVerify, a verification tool co-created with AFP, suggested a 67 percent likelihood that some fragments of the audio were likely AI-generated.

AFP Fact Check debunked an earlier claim using doctored footage from ANI, falsely showing India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh commenting on Iran.