CNN stood by its reporting of Iran’s “victory” statement following the ceasefire announcement, despite Donald Trump blasting it as “fake news.”
For those who may’ve missed Trump’s Truth Social follow-up post Tuesday evening, nearly two hours after announcing the two-week ceasefire, the president sounded off on “fraud” CNN for allegedly putting out a “false statement” from Iran, which claimed the U.S. had “suffered an undeniable, historic and crushing defeat.”
“The alleged Statement put out by CNN World News is a FRAUD, as CNN well knows,” Trump railed in his social media post. “The false Statement was linked to a Fake News site (from Nigeria) and, of course, immediately picked up by CNN, and blared out as a ‘legitimate’ headline. The Official Statement by Iran was just released, and posted on TRUTH, below. Authorities are looking to determine whether or not a crime was committed on the issuance of the Fake CNN World Statement, or was it a sick rogue player?”
He added: “CNN is being ordered to immediately withdraw this Statement with full apologies for their, as usual, terrible ‘reporting.’ Results of the investigation will be announced in the near future.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr co-signed Trump’s rebuke of CNN by taking to X and blasting the news network for “outrageous conduct.”
“Fake news is bad enough for the country, but pushing out a hoax headline in such a sensitive national security moment as this requires accountability,” Carr wrote. “Iran put out an official statement that simply cannot be squared with the one CNN’s false headline attributes to them. Time for change at CNN.”
However, CNN refused to apologize or withdraw the statement, defending it was obtained “from Iranian officials and reported on multiple Iranian state media outlets.”
“We received the statement from specific official Iranian spokespeople who are known to us,” a spokesperson for the outlet added.
Additionally, the New York Times ran a similar statement attributed to Iran’s National Security Council, which read: “We congratulate the people of Iran for this victory and reiterate that until the final details of the victory are finalized, officials and people must remain united and defiant.”
This was strikingly different to the statement shared by the president, which saw Iran’s Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi thanking Pakistan’s Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff for their “tireless efforts to end the war.”
“On behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran, I express the gratitude and appreciation for my dear brother HE Prime Minister of Pakistan Sharif and HE Field Marshal Munir for their tireless efforts to end the war in the region,” Araghchi wrote. “In response to the brotherly request of PM Sharif in his tweet, and considering the request by the U.S. for the negotiations based on its 15-point proposal as well as announcement by POTUS about acceptance of general framework of Iran’s 10-point proposal as a basis for negotiations, I hereby declare on behalf of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council: If attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations. For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran’s Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations.”
Though, senior international correspondent Matthew Chance claimed on CNN that Iranian state news agencies had run the “more aggressive” statement amid the ceasefire update.
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