ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s information ministry late Saturday rejected social media claims that the US Navy was operating from its territory against Iran with Islamabad’s approval, describing the allegations as “fabricated propaganda.”

The statement came after some social media accounts claimed that the US navy was operating against Iran from within the Pakistani territory, amid a month-long conflict between Washington and Tehran.

Pakistan led a diplomatic push together with some regional states that helped broker an interim peace deal between the US and Iran in mid-June, though it fell apart shortly afterwards and both sides resumed fighting in an around the Strait of Hormuz.

In a post on X, the Pakistani information ministry dismissed the claims and said 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, that the US Navy is somehow operating from Pakistani territory against Iran, with alleged Pakistani approval, is baseless and part of wider agenda of sowing confusion, misperceptions and chaos,” the ministry said.

The statement came hours after Pakistan temporarily suspended trade across its border with Iran in the southwestern Balochistan province over security concerns, a district official said on Saturday, as traders warned of substantial financial losses from the closure.

“Trade through the Iran border has been temporarily suspended due to security reasons,” Chagai Deputy Commissioner Bakhtiar Ismail said in a post on X.

“Pakistan-Iran border closure is temporary measure to improve border management to support counterterrorism efforts,” he added. “The border will be opened as soon as effective measures are in place.”

The closure came amid heightened security concerns in Balochistan, where at least 20 police constables were kidnapped 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 intercepted their passenger van in a mountainous part of Mastung.

A day earlier, unidentified armed men abducted Asad Ullah Kakar, commissioner of Balochistan’s Rakhshan Division, while he was traveling from Quetta through Kharan district. No group has claimed responsibility for either kidnapping.

Balochistan, which borders both Iran and Afghanistan, has experienced a prolonged separatist insurgency, with militant groups including the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) frequently targeting security forces and government installations.