Posts fabricate foreign minister's remarks to falsely claim Saudi-US split
- Published on June 30, 2026 at 11:28
- 2 min read
- By Yusra JABEEN, AFP Pakistan
As Washington and Tehran engaged in talks aimed at ending the Middle East war, a video of Saudi Arabia's foreign minister circulated in posts falsely claiming it showed him announcing the kingdom would end its alliance with the United States. Nowhere in the video -- which has circulated since December 2022 -- does Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan announce an end to the partnership, nor have there been any official reports backing up the posts' claims.
The video shared on X on June 22, 2026 shows Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan speaking in Arabic.
"Breaking: Saudi Arabia takes stand against Trump," reads part of the video's caption, before appearing to quote the Saudi foreign minister as saying: "We can no longer stand with Trump. Trump should first save himself, then save us."
The video was also shared in similar Facebook and X posts, including one shared more than 1,000 times.
It surfaced after the conclusion of a first round of talks between the United States and Iran to end the Middle East war, held at the Burgenstock resort in Switzerland (archived link).
According to a joint statement issued by mediators Pakistan and Qatar, a high level committee set up by Tehran and Washington to oversee the talks "agreed upon a roadmap towards reaching a final deal within 60 days, laying the foundation for the immediate commencement of further technical talks".
The Middle East war, triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iran, saw Tehran close the Strait of Hormuz and cut off the majority of Gulf states' oil and gas exports (archived link). Iran's drone and missile attacks also shattered the states' sense of safety and undermined the status of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in particular as stable, peaceful havens for business and tourism.
Analysts told AFP Gulf states have found themselves stuck between a wounded but emboldened Iran and an unreliable alliance with the United States (archived link).
There have been no official reports, however, of Saudi Arabia taking a stand against the Trump administration in the United States.
Fabricated translation
A review of the circulating video shows that Prince Faisal does not say: "We can no longer stand with Trump."
Instead he says the kingdom does not determine its policies based on the interests of others.
"At the same time, we will remain open to dialogue with all our partners, both in the West and in the East, to ensure that there is a complete understanding of what we are doing and that there is an effort to achieve these common benefits," he says.
"These common benefits are not only for us with China, but also with the United States and others. We are pursuing our interests, and we find our interests in the West and in the East, and wherever we find them, we will work to achieve them."
A reverse image search using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to an Al Arabiya report about comments Prince Faisal made during a press conference on December 9, 2022 (archived link).
The foreign minister was speaking after the China-Arab and China-Gulf summits held in Riyadh.
Subsequent searches led to longer footage of the press conference posted on YouTube by Saudi channels Al-Saudia and AlHadath (archived here and here).
The falsely shared footage corresponds to the 39:28 mark of Al-Saudia's YouTube video.
AFP has debunked other misleading claims stemming from the Middle East war.
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