The Trump administration on Thursday denounced CNN for airing a portion of the new Iranian supreme leader’s public statement, the second time in three days it has attacked the network for reporting on how the regime is responding to US attacks.
The attack illustrated the care the media must take in reporting during times of war and the responsibility of American journalists to report the perspective of countries their government considers enemies. It also exposed inconsistencies.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s message, during his first public statement since succeeding his father, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, was widely reported elsewhere.
The White House said on social media that “fake news CNN just aired four straight minutes of Iranian state television uninterrupted, run by the same psychotic, murderous regime that took pride in brutally massacring Americans for 47 years.”
Previous CNN interview criticized by Trump’s communications leader
Two days earlier, White House communications director Steven Cheung took issue with CNN anchor Erin Burnett’s interview with Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian nuclear negotiator.
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Burnett asked Mousavian what he had been hearing about the Iranian government’s interest in holding talks with the United States. There wasn’t much, he said.
“Have you ever noticed how CNN just regurgitates quotes and unverified information from Iranian terrorists?” Cheung wrote in
CNN did not address Cheung’s statement, but responded to the attack on the White House on Thursday. He noted that CNN, Sky News and Al Jazeera also showed parts of the ayatollah’s statement live.
“The world is watching in anticipation which direction this war will take,” CNN said. “The alleged comments from Iran’s new supreme leader are a critical component in helping audiences understand where this conflict is headed and were broadcast for their obvious informational value.”
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Other media outlets, including The Associated Press, sent out alerts about what Khamenei said. His promise to continue attacks on other Arab countries in the region and his plans to cut off the world’s oil supply made headlines. The New York Times published a story about the speech on its website immediately afterward, later writing that the speech “was an early indication of how the new supreme leader would approach the war, as well as how he would run the country.”
CNN has long been a favorite target of President Donald Trump, dating back to his first term. It’s a particularly vulnerable time for the network with Paramount Global’s deal to buy CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, raising questions about its future editorial independence.
CNN showed a news anchor reading a portion of Khameini’s comments in Farsi, with an English translation. He did not transmit them in their entirety. After the speech, correspondent Nick Paton Walsh briefed presenter Kate Bolduan and noted that the non-appearance of the leader, reportedly wounded in an airstrike, was as important as what he said.
“We were waiting to see the man’s face to have proof of his health and survival,” Walsh said, “and we didn’t get that moment. Instead, it appears to be a handwritten message that mostly reiterates things we already knew.”
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A social media message board about Iran’s point of view
The Tech Transparency Project has reported that several Iranian leaders and institutions maintain verified accounts on X, formerly Twitter, owned by Trump ally Elon Musk. CNBC said Thursday that Khamenei has one of them, and an X account with his portrait posted the text of his comments, available in Farsi and an English translation.
Although Khamenei’s father is dead, an account with his portrait was active on Thursday, mainly posting messages from his son. “The revenge we have in mind is not only due to the martyrdom of the illustrious Leader of the Revolution,” reads a message published on Thursday. “Each member of the nation martyred by the enemy is a separate case that demands that we seek revenge.”
X is officially blocked in Iran, although many use a virtual private network to bypass the restrictions. A message sent to the platform on Thursday was not immediately returned.
There is a long history of journalists seeking interviews with world leaders, even when they are considered enemies of the United States. The most notable was “60 Minutes” correspondent Mike Wallace’s interview with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran in 1979, when that country was holding Americans hostage.
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Thursday’s comments from Iran’s new supreme leader were absolutely newsworthy and legitimate for CNN to broadcast, said Jane Ferguson, a veteran international correspondent and founder of the journalism platform Noosphere. It’s not the job of government leaders to separate what CNN reports, he said.
“We’ve always faced this,” he said, of when journalists interview leaders or other figures hostile to American interests. “This has been an easy task for a while.” Historian Douglas Brinkley of Rice University said it’s unfair that CNN is singled out in this case. He also believes it’s newsworthy to know what an adversary’s leaders think, but it’s important to make sure journalists are careful. “You have to be careful not to be used as a propaganda tool by the Iranian regime,” he said. “On the other hand, knowing what the enemy is saying and looking for a sign of a peace offer or a nuance is important… It’s a difficult balance.”
