Friday, Jul 24, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ
IsThis

POLITICS

The Claim

The United States government issued a diplomatic cable (described as a "cipher") directed against Imran Khan.

The Short Version

The evidence does not support U.S. authorship of the "cipher." Reporting across AP, VOA, BBC Urdu, Dawn, and other outlets identifies it as a Pakistani diplomatic cable written by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington and sent to Islamabad, summarizing a meeting with U.S. officials. The claim wrongly turns reported U.S. remarks inside the cable into proof that the U.S. government issued the document itself.

Caveats

  • Do not confuse the contents of a diplomatic cable with who authored or issued the cable.
  • Some reporting and commentary use politically charged language that overstates what the document proves about a U.S. role in Khan’s removal.
  • Authenticity disputes around leaked text do not change the key point here: even accounts treating the cable as genuine describe it as Pakistani, not American, in origin.

The Receipts

  1. Pakistan Confirms Secret Diplomatic Cable Showing U.S. Pressure to Remove Imran Khan

    The Intercept

  2. Pakistan Indicts Khan For Allegedly Leaking US-Linked Secret Cable

    VOA News

  3. Pakistan Cypher Exposes U.S. Pressure to Remove Imran Khan

    The Intercept

  4. Leaked 'Cypher' Shows Pak Ousted Ex-PM Imran Khan To Get US Favour

    NDTV

  5. Did US ask for Imran Khan's removal as Pakistan PM after he visited Russia?

    Al Jazeera

  6. Cypher No. I-0678

    Wikipedia

  7. امریکی ویب سائٹ کا مبینہ 'سائفر' کی تفصیلات منظرِ عام پر لانے کا دعویٰ اور محکمہ خارجہ کا ردعمل

    اردو وائس آف امریکہ (VOA Urdu)

  8. US orchestrated Imran Khan's ouster, leaked cable reveals

    India Today

  9. ’دھمکی آمیز‘ مراسلے پر بیان: عمران خان کا مراسلہ لہرانے سے پاکستانی سفارتکاروں کے لیے مشکل پیدا ہوئی؟

    BBC Urdu

  10. سائفر کے مبینہ متن کا منظرِعام پر آنا پی ٹی آئی کے لیے فائدہ مند ثابت ہو گا یا نقصان دہ؟

    BBC Urdu

+ 17 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Imran KhanUnited States Government

More Fact Checks