The Trump administration and its fellow Republicans are going nuts over a CNN report that the White House didn’t adequately plan for Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth called the report “fundamentally unserious,” openly welcoming the day the news outlet gets taken over by conservative billionaire David Ellison.
“[M]ore fake news from CNN: reports that the Trump administration underestimated the Iran war’s impact on the Strait of Hormuz. Patently ridiculous, of course. For decades, Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This is always what they do, hold the strait hostage. CNN doesn’t think we thought of that,” Hegseth said at a press conference Friday.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the story “100% FAKE NEWS” in a long post on X, claiming that “a goal of the Operation itself, to annihilate the terrorist Iranian regime’s navy, missiles, drone production infrastructure, and other threat capabilities is quite literally intended to deprive them of their ability to close the Strait.” This belies the fact that Iran took control of the strait days ago and that no ships have been able to cross it without their approval.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on X that “whoever leaked this lied” regarding the idea that Trump did not plan for Iran to close the strait.
“CNN should do some fact-checking,” Cotton said. “The U.S. has planned for Iran to try and close the strait for decades.” It’s puzzling, though, how the report could be both a leak and a lie at the same time.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung shared Cotton’s post, adding that “[w]hen [CNN reporter Zachary Cohen] is on the byline, you know it’s FAKE NEWS. His unnamed sources are former Obama and Biden people, Iranian Regime sympathizers, low-level Democrat staffers on the Hill, and liberal donors/activists.”
GOP Senator Tim Sheehy said “[i]t is categorically false that they did not plan for Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz. Lawmakers and national security officials have known for years that this was Iran’s plan once their backs were against the wall,” again ignoring the fact that the U.S. was unable to prevent the strait’s closure.
A CNN spokesperson Friday said the network stands by its reporting. It seems that the Trump administration is aghast at the criticism it is facing, but refuses to acknowledge that the strait is closed right now with all oil exports from the region halted except for Iran’s. Attacking the media won’t change the facts on the ground or in the water.
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