Early on Wednesday, the United States launched military strikes against Iran, after Iran struck three merchant ships attempting to move through the Strait of Hormuz, as a statement from CENTCOM indicated, "Iran's demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire." Following a warning from President Trump, this was followed up by more U.S. attacks, but if you were watching CNN's reporting of these later actions, you might have been led to believe that the U.S. and Donald Trump were to blame for the new round of violence.
The breaking news came in on CNN's The Arena, where former Obama aide Jim Sciutto was hosting, and after reading only a portion of the CENTCOM statement explaining the reasons for the latest attacks, he made an outrageous claim, as he brought on White House Correspondent Alayna Treene.
SCIUTTO: U.S. Central Command confirmed that new military strikes are underway in Iran at the order of President Trump. Part of the CENTCOM statement says these strikes are designed to, quote, further degrade Iran's ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz....This is the second night in a row there have been repeated violations in both directions of this cease fire.
Violations in both directions? Treene then added some much needed facts.
TREENE: I do want to read you a little bit more of this CENTCOM statement.... They say that they are conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom, as you mentioned, of navigation in the Straits. They said the U.S. Is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping.
After Treene wrapped up her report, Sciutto again felt the need to attempt to share the blame for the latest round of attacks.
TREENE: No question though that Trump is incredibly frustrated. I heard this in my conversations with White House officials today. He's frustrated with the pace of these negotiations. He wants there to be more firmer commitments at this point.... So all of this leading to a very, very fragile moment in this cease fire and leaving these questions about what's really going to happen.
SCIUTTO: The fact is there's more shooting than negotiating.
And whose fault is that? Sciutto didn't say, so it must be Iran's fault. Next up on CNN, The Lead with Jake Tapper, who did note CENTCOM's full statement during his opening segment including the reason for the U.S. strikes, but left that context out, pinning it all on Trump, even suggesting that the strikes are a negotiating tactic by the President, as he welcomed in Victoria Nuland, who was Biden's Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
TAPPER: The U.S. Military says it is launching new strikes against Iran, this at the direction of President Trump after earlier today, he threatened these strikes, calling the ceasefire over.... This morning President Trump said that as far as he's concerned , the cease fire is over, and now we see these new strikes. So is this an end to the ceasefire or is it possible that this is just a negotiating tactic and the ceasefire is still officially on?
This has absolutely nothing to do with negotiating and Tapper must know that. He then asked the question which led to Nuland's Democrat take on the status of the war.
TAPPER: It seems like we've been involved in a full scale war for quite some time, even during this so-called ceasefire.
NULAND: And by the way, a war that we are losing, Jake. The President has never gotten us back to the status quo anti, which was a Strait of Hormuz that was open to navigation without fees or tolls, and that Iran did not control.
Tapper then played a clip of Trump from earlier today, where he was asked why there hasn't been more progress made in talks with Iran.
TRUMP CLIP: They're dealing with very fine people. They're dealing with Steve Witkoff. They're dealing with Jared Kushner and JD Vance, and they're dealing with Marco (Rubio) and Scott (Bessent),they're dealing with great people. But I don't know. I think they're a little loco. They're a little crazy.
Pathetically, Trump calling Iranian leaders loco and crazy, didn't sit well with Tapper.
TAPPER: I don't know if I would say loco or crazy, but I mean, they believe in some pretty extreme theological beliefs.
Maybe Tapper would have preferred deranged and dangerous, as he refers to Trump. Regardless, both Tapper and Sciutto's coverage of the U.S. response, to Iranian attacks on ships, left a lot to be desired.
