New Delhi: Authorities are looking into CNN’s reporting that Iran claimed “victory” over the US and forced America to accept its 10-point plan for negotiations to end the war, US President Donald Trump said Tuesday, while ordering the American media house to withdraw the statement and apologise for the report.
“The alleged Statement put out by CNN World News is a FRAUD, as CNN well knows. 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,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social.
He added: “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? CNN is being ordered to immediately withdraw this Statement with full apologies for their, as usual, terrible ‘reporting’.”
Trump shared a much milder worded statement made by Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, highlighting that Iran will stop all defensive actions once the US and Israel will halt their attacks.
CNN defended its reporting over the Iranian victory statement, asserting that it had received the “victory” statement from Iranian sources, which was also widely reported by the West Asian country’s domestic media.
“The statement, which said Iran achieved a great victory and forced the United States to accept its 10-point plan as a basis for negotiations, was obtained by CNN from Iranian officials and reported on multiple Iranian state media outlets,” the American media house said in a report.
In its original update that led to Trump’s broadside, CNN reported that “Iran says it has achieved a great victory and forced the United States to accept its 10-point plan, according to a statement from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.”
Hours after his first broadside at the news organisation, Trump once again commented on CNN, asserting that the report on the Iranian victory statement was “totally made up and posted… for purpose of, perhaps inflaming a very delicate situation. It was a new troublemaking site from Nigeria, and CNN just got caught cheating.”
This is the latest back and forth between Trump and CNN. The feud began much earlier during his first tenure. The American President has consistently referred to CNN as a fake news organisation, and has filed defamation suits against the company.
In 2018, CNN had sued the Trump White House for unfairly revoking their White House Correspondent Jim Acosta’s credentials. Eventually the news organisation dropped the suit after Acosta’s press credentials were restored.
The White House and Trump have over the years maintained its attacks over CNN, including attacking its current White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins. At times Trump has described the reporter as “stupid and nasty” in social media posts while dismissing questions raised by her during press conferences.
Last month, a federal appeals court also rejected the efforts by Trump to revive a $475-million defamation lawsuit against CNN, claiming that there was no merit in the case. Trump had accused the news organisation of defamation for calling his 2020 claims over a stolen election as a “big lie.”
Trump accused CNN’s usage of “big lie” as a means to compare the US President to the Nazis that ruled Germany between 1933 and 1945. The original case was filed by Trump in 2022, and over the years has been rejected by multiple courts including the latest legal failure at the end of last month.
Trump’s Justice Department is also currently reviewing the proposal by Paramount to acquire CNN’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount’s CEO David Ellison is considered to be a close ally of President Trump and had already last year made changes to CBS News after taking over its parent company.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
Also Read: Pentagon chief says he’s eager for Trump ally to buy CNN as he blasts war coverage