ISLAMABAD: Several accounts on social media falsely reported this week that in an attempt to increase the US's political, military, and intelligence pressure on Iran, the special forces from the country had landed at Pakistan's Shamsi military base in Balochistan.
According to a statement by the fact-checking department of Pakistan’s Ministry of Information, no credible evidence supported the claims of US special forces operating from Pakistan.
The ministry, in a post on X, said that the “fabricated narrative of secret meetings” between Pakistani officials and US/Israeli representatives was not “merely false,” rather it was a “deliberate, malicious assault on Pakistan’s sovereignty, military honor, and independent foreign policy.”
“Pakistan is no client state, no proxy battlefield, and no staging ground for any foreign power’s regime-change fantasies,” the ministry said.
“Our soil, airspace, and strategic assets, including Shamsi Base, remain inviolable and under exclusive sovereign control of the Pakistan Armed Forces,” it added.
The ministry, in a public advisory, said that such claims, before being spread, should be verified only through official channels, i.e., the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or trusted Pakistani media.
“Pakistan maintains a sovereign, capable defense posture committed to neutrality and peace in the region,” the Ministry of Information said.
Evidence
The ministry said the images were “outdated and recycled,” dating back to the early 2000s, during the US presence in Afghanistan.
“The collage of US troops are stock photos from early 2000s US operations in Afghanistan/Pakistan border areas, not recent evidence,” the ministry said.
Separately, according to credible sources, the Shamsi Air Base was vacated in 2011 following the Salala incident, remaining under exclusive Pakistani control since then.
The ministry also said that the Pakistani territory was never used for military operations against Iran, adding that the base’s documented use was exclusively focused on terrorists' hideouts after the Sept. 11 attacks in the US, continuing till 2011.
“Pakistan has maintained a consistent policy of not permitting foreign powers to use its military facilities or airspace against Iran,” the ministry said.
While quoting Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry — head of Pakistan military’s media wing — the ministry said that neither are any bases in Pakistan handed over to any foreign powers nor will they be.
“US-Pakistan military cooperation in 2026 is limited to announced exercises, with no base access mentioned,” the information ministry said.
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