ABP Live's headline claims that the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has reported that India struck sites linked to Pakistan's nuclear programme during Operation Sindoor in May 2025. A check of the SIPRI Yearbook 2026, released on 8 June 2026, confirms the basic thrust of the claim — but with important caveats that the headline glosses over.

**What SIPRI actually said**

SIPRI describes the May 2025 confrontation as "an unusually severe military crisis" between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The report states that the cross-border tensions saw India strike Pakistani air and missile bases that are "likely to have nuclear-related roles," while noting that "both sides took steps to avoid escalation," as reported by Business Standard and Deccan Chronicle.

The phrasing matters. SIPRI does not assert that India struck Pakistan's nuclear weapons, warhead storage facilities, or fissile-material plants. It says the air and missile bases that were targeted are *likely* to have nuclear-related roles — a characterisation consistent with open-source assessments of installations such as Nur Khan airbase near Rawalpindi, which sits close to Pakistan's Strategic Plans Division headquarters.

**The '12 warheads deployed' angle**

ABP's URL slug also flags that India "deployed 12 warheads for the first time." Per India TV's reading of the same Yearbook, SIPRI estimates India's stockpile rose from 180 to 190 warheads, of which 12 are now assessed as deployed. This is a notable shift — historically SIPRI has counted India's warheads as being in central storage rather than mated to delivery systems — but it is a SIPRI estimate about India's posture, not a Pakistani site count.

**Wider context from the Yearbook**

SIPRI also flagged that India and Pakistan integrated cyber operations into active conflict for the first time during the May 2025 crisis. India's military spending hit $92.1 billion in 2025, an 8.9% jump, making it the world's fifth-largest spender. Pakistan's stockpile remained at an estimated 170 warheads.

**Bottom line**

The headline accurately reflects a real finding in SIPRI Yearbook 2026, and is corroborated by multiple independent outlets quoting the same passage. What readers should keep in mind: SIPRI's language is probabilistic ("likely to have nuclear-related roles"), and the report explicitly credits both sides with steps to avoid escalation — context that headline-only readers may miss.