Video of India's flag set alight filmed in Pakistan, not Iran
- Published on July 9, 2026 at 09:23
- 3 min read
- By Sachin BAGHEL, AFP India
Video of the Indian flag being set on fire was taken during a protest in Pakistan, contrary to posts claiming it showed Iranians torching the flag because of New Delhi’s ties with the United States and Israel. The video was in fact filmed during a protest organised by a student organisation in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi.
"Why are Iranians burning Indian flag along with Israeli and American flags?" says part of the caption of an X video shared on June 27, 2026.
"It's true that Jaishankar has ruined the foreign policy, and this is the result of his failure. Because of the BJP, the world is hating us," it adds, referring to Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The video shows a crowd clad in black gathered around the Indian, US, and Israeli flags that have been laid out on the ground. Several people are also holding portraits of Iran's former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the Middle East war in US-Israeli strikes.
A person then appears to squirt lighter fluid on the flags before setting them alight.
The same video was also shared in similar Facebook and Instagram posts.
New Delhi has long maintained cordial ties with Iran while also carefully balancing its relationship with the United States, especially during the weeks of conflict in the Middle East (archived link).
It imports a significant share of its crude oil through routes linked to West Asia, and has repeatedly called for stability in the region and the protection of maritime trade routes crucial to global energy supplies.
But the government has been criticised domestically for failing to condemn the US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran (archived link). The main opposition Congress party also admonished Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his visit to Israel, two days before the start of the Middle East war (archived link).
The circulating footage, however, does not show Iranians burning the Indian flag over New Delhi's ties to the United States and Israel.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to a higher-quality version posted on Instagram on June 26 (archived link).
Its caption and overlaid text says it shows a protest in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi.
A banner for the Imamia Students Organization can also be seen in the uncropped June 26 video (archived link).
Subsequent keyword searches led to a video published on the organisation's Instagram account that features similar footage to that seen in the falsely shared clip, including the burning of the flags (archived link).
"Glimpses of the prayer during the main procession on 9 Muharram ul Haram," reads its Urdu-language caption, referring to a religiously important day in the Islamic calendar.
A spokesperson for the student organisation told AFP the video was "recorded on M.A. Jinnah Road during the 9th Muharram procession (25th July 2026) and captures nothing but the genuine sentiment of the local public".
"We unequivocally state that no Iranian or any other foreign nationals participated in this gathering. Any claim suggesting otherwise is entirely false, fabricated, and without foundation," they added on July 8.
The background of the video matches Google Street View imagery of the road in Karachi (archived link).
Local media covered the procession in Karachi and the subsequent protest, which was also captured in an AFP photo (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked other false claims related to protests in Pakistan.
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