ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s information ministry late Saturday dismissed social media assertions that the U.S. Navy was operating from Pakistani territory against Iran with Islamabad’s approval, branding the allegations as “fabricated propaganda.”
The statement followed claims circulating on social media that the U.S. Navy was conducting operations against Iran from within Pakistani territory, amid an ongoing month-long conflict between Washington and Tehran.
Pakistan had spearheaded a diplomatic initiative alongside several regional states that helped broker an interim peace agreement between the U.S. and Iran in mid-June. The deal collapsed shortly afterward, and hostilities resumed around the Strait of Hormuz.
In a post on X, the Pakistani information ministry rejected the claims, stating that such social media posts were part of a “wider agenda of sowing confusion, misperceptions and chaos.”
“Fabricated propaganda by a North America-based account, and questioningly proliferated further, alleging that the U.S. Navy is operating from Pakistani territory against Iran with Pakistan’s supposed approval, is baseless,” the ministry said. “It is part of a wider agenda of sowing confusion, misperceptions and chaos.”
The statement was issued hours after Pakistan temporarily suspended trade across its border with Iran in Balochistan province’s southwestern region due to security concerns, according to a district official on Saturday. Traders warned of significant financial losses from the shutdown.
“Trade through the Iran border has been temporarily suspended due to security reasons,” Chagai Deputy Commissioner Bakhtiar Ismail said in a post on X.
“The Pakistan-Iran border closure is a temporary measure to improve border management and support counterterrorism efforts,” he added. “The border will reopen as soon as effective measures are in place.”
The closure followed heightened security concerns in Balochistan, where at least 20 police constables were abducted by unidentified armed men in Mastung district on Friday.
A senior provincial official told Arab News on Saturday that the constables were returning from a police recruitment center in Kalat district when armed men stopped their passenger van in a mountainous area of Mastung.
A day earlier, unidentified armed men kidnapped Asad Ullah Kakar, commissioner of Balochistan’s Rakhshan Division, while he traveled from Quetta through Kharan district. No group has claimed responsibility for either abduction.
Balochistan, which borders both Iran and Afghanistan, has endured a prolonged separatist insurgency. Militant groups, including the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), regularly target security forces and government installations.
