Claim: In a Truth Social post about possibly travelling to Islamabad to sign a deal with Iran, US President Donald Trump praised Pakistanis as “handsome” and “intelligent” compared to their “eastern neighbors” — Indians — and expressed a desire to meet the fighter pilots who “hit mighty Rafales” during the May 2025 conflict, comparing the accomplishment to “killing lizards with an air gun” in his childhood.
Fact: Trump did not post such a message on his Truth Social account. The screenshot is fabricated.
On 19 April 2026, multiple Facebook users posted a screenshot of a post, allegedly made by US President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account, stating:
“Signing peace deal with Iran in Islamabad will finally give me a chance to meet with great great people of Pakistan. It’s amazing to find them so handsome, intelligent, brave and witty on contrary to their eastern neighbors. I am also keen to have a chat with fighter pilots who hit mighty Rafales. Believe me it’s not easy at all but they did that with so much ease that it reminded me of my childhood days when i used to kill lizards with air gun. Didn’t miss a single shot!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
The archived links of the viral social media posts can be found here, here, here, and here, respectively.
Pakistan mediates ceasefire, hosts peace talks
Towards the end of the US-Israel war against Iran that started on 28 February and lasted over five weeks, US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened the Islamic Republic with destruction.
On 7 April, he went as far as to say that “a whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if Iran did not give in.
However, Pakistan-led mediation efforts eventually culminated in a two-week ceasefire on 8 April, with Islamabad Talks scheduled to discuss the way forward.
Held on 11 and 12 April 2026, the Islamabad Talks marked the first direct, high-level diplomatic engagement between the US and Iran since 1979. They were aimed at converting a fragile ceasefire into a lasting resolution to the war that America and Israel have waged against the Islamic Republic.
Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, was put on high alert ahead of the arrival of the foreign delegations, with the one from the US led by Vice President JD Vance including Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner, as confirmed by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Tehran sent Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Pakistan hosted the talks at the renowned Serena Hotel, wherein the two sides provided each other written proposals regarding the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear programme. However, the negotiations ended without any success and Trump announced the imposition of a naval blockade in the key shipping route.
Related: War against Iran: Has Donald Trump announced plans to create ‘Hormuz Peace Board’?
Iran momentarily opened the Strait of Hormuz but closed it again after it claimed the US was violating the ceasefire terms by imposing the naval blockade.
A second round of talks was expected to take place, again in Islamabad, with the US president saying he would send his representatives to Pakistan but Iran has so far denied plans to send negotiators.
Trump had indicated that he “might” travel to Islamabad to sign the deal if one is agreed upon.
“I would go to Pakistan. Pakistan has been great. They have been so great … if the deal is signed in Islamabad, I might go,” he had said, while praising the “really great” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir for their role in the negotiations.
However, while Araghchi did meet PM Sharif and Field Marshal Munir again before heading to Oman and Russia, talks with the US were stalled.
On 19 April, the US seized Iran’s Touska merchant ship after attacking it with a guided-missile destroyer, a move for which Tehran vowed retaliation. The same day, Trump issued another warning on his Truth Social platform, saying:
“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran.”
‘Mighty Rafales’ shot down
The French-made Dassault Rafale fighter jet has been a sore point for India, which lost multiple of its aircraft during the four-day war with Pakistan in May 2025 that culminated in a ceasefire brokered by Trump.
We have previously explained the contrasting claims made by officials in Islamabad and New Delhi about the assets lost on both sides.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check scoured Trump’s Truth Social account but did not find any such post.
We also searched Factba.se — an online database that monitors and archives the US president’s social media activity — but it does not list any such post either.
We then looked for whether there were any credible reports from reputable media outlets about the purported Trump post, but the search yielded no result.
Turning to the screenshot itself, we observed that Trump’s Truth Social profile picture is pixelated, while his name, the ‘Verified’ and ‘Truth+ Premium’ badges, and his handle are blurred. On the other hand, the text of the post is crisp.
Moreover, there is no timestamp and the number of replies, ReTruths, and reactions are not available.
Soch Fact Check then decided to analyse different portions of the screenshot using online tools to assess its authenticity. We used two tools — Forensically and FotoForensics, both of which are available online for free — to ascertain potential digital errors. Of these, the former has been certified by the RAND Corporation, an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm.
To strengthen the findings, we also compared the results with those of an authentic 17 April 2026 post on Trump’s Truth Social account, wherein he wrote, “Thank you to Pakistan and its Great Prime Minister and Field Marshall, two fantastic people!!!”
Results from FotoForensics can be accessed here and here for the viral screenshot and the authentic post, respectively.
A comparison visual showing forensic analysis — using Forensically and FotoForensics — of the viral post attributed to Trump (left) and an authentic one from his Truth Social account (right). The first row is the content we submitted, the second depicts results from FotoForensics, and the third and fourth are noise and error level analyses from Forensically.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the viral screenshot attributed to Trump is fake.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the fake screenshot circulating here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook, here, here, here, here, and here on Instagram, and here, here, here, here, and here.
It was also shared here, here, here, here, and here on X (formerly Twitter), as well as here on YouTube.
Conclusion: Trump did not post such a message on his Truth Social account. The screenshot is fabricated.
Background image in cover photo: DonaldTrump
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