Prabowo's statement on Iran's nuclear, JMSI chairman compares Iran's nuclear issue with Ghost Fleet

JAKARTA - The General Chair of the Indonesian Cyber Media Network or JMSI Teguh Santosa clarified the narrative circulating regarding President Prabowo Subianto's statement regarding Iran's nuclear weapons.

Teguh said the video and narrative pieces in the public space had come out of the context of Prabowo's full statement in front of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry or Kadin at the State Palace, Friday, July 31, 2026.

According to Teguh, Prabowo at that time was explaining the dilemma faced by national business actors, including the fast-moving and uncertain geopolitical risks.

After listening to Prabowo's statement in full, Teguh admitted that he did not find a single sentence that stated that Iran had definitely possessed nuclear weapons.

He assessed that the response of the Middle Eastern countries that Prabowo called was a description of a hypothetical situation. In the study of international relations, such an approach is commonly used in game theory or game theory.

"What Prabowo conveyed is purely an analysis of a hypothetical situation regarding the dynamics that are currently taking place on the international political stage," said Teguh from Bandung, Wednesday, August 5, 2026.

Teguh is also an international relations observer from UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. He wrote a number of books on global political issues, including Di Tepi Amu Darya, Perdamaian yang Buruk, Perang yang Baik, Buldozer dari Palestina, and Di Tepi Sungai Efrat.

He also wrote the book Reunifikasi Korea: Game Theory which was taken from his dissertation at Padjadjaran University, Bandung.

Teguh said the context of Prabowo's discussion was directed at the worst-case scenario if an escalation of the nuclear arms race occurred in a region.

According to Teguh, such analysis is commonly used by leaders of countries to read risks and prepare mitigations. Not to accuse a country factually.

Teguh said that on various occasions he conveyed that Iran did not have nuclear weapons. This view, said Teguh, is in accordance with the fatwa of the leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

He explained that nuclear weapons are considered contrary to the principle of war in Islam. Because, war in Islam is based on self-defense and must be discriminatory, namely only targeting combatants.

"Nuclear weapons are not discriminatory because they target anyone, including destroying the environment," he said.

Teguh then compared this controversy with Prabowo's statement in 2018 when quoting the novel Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War by two US military strategists, PW Singer and August Cole.

In Ghost Fleet, various hypothetical situations are outlined. Not only about Indonesia breaking up in 2030, but also open war between the world's major powers.

Teguh said the destruction of a country or the birth of a new country within a certain period of time is a matter of strategic fiction that is commonly discussed by foreign political observers and research institutions.

According to Teguh, the use of the worst scenario in the literature and geopolitical discourse is aimed at building national vigilance.

His message, said Teguh, all elements of the nation need to be aware that various scenarios of threats to state sovereignty are discussed and calculated abroad.

Teguh also asked the press to be more careful in disseminating information. He assessed that cutting the context of public officials' statements for the sake of sensation could mislead the public and potentially disrupt Indonesia's relations with friendly countries.

As a press company organization, said Teguh, JMSI encourages an ecosystem of accurate, balanced, fact-based, and context-based reporting.

He emphasized that verification of key source statements such as the president needs to be carried out so that strategic messages are not distorted by practical political interests.

Teguh invited stakeholders to see the direction of Prabowo's foreign policy in its entirety. According to him, a complete understanding is needed so that Indonesia is not dragged into disinformation in the midst of increasingly complicated global competition.