CNN on Iran government document Trump labeled ‘fake’: ‘It’s authentic’

CNN is defending its reporting on a statement given by Iranian officials regarding a ceasefire agreement the U.S. and Iran reached just hours before President Trump was set to launch an attack on the Iran’s infrastructure.

As part of the network’s coverage of the ceasefire deal Tuesday, CNN quoted Iranian officials who claimed a “great victory” in the negotiations and framed the agreement as one Trump agreed to in order to open the Strait of Hormuz for oil passage.

CNN’s coverage of the agreement and the statement from Iranian officials was first highlighted by Mediaite.

Trump, in a Truth Social post, ripped into the network over its publishing of the statement, which was also cited by a number of other news outlets.

“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,” the president wrote.

“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.’ Results of the investigation will be announced in the near future,” Trump wrote.

CNN is defending its reporting.

“The statement in question was obtained by CNN from Iranian officials and reported on multiple Iranian state media outlets,” a spokesperson for the outlet said. “We received the statement from specific official Iranian spokespeople who are known to us.”

Trump and his allies have sparred with CNN for years and have grown increasingly frustrated with the network’s coverage of the Iran war.

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr in a social media post of his own called CNN’s reporting on the ceasefire agreement “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 said. “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.”

CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the media conglomerate that was sold earlier this year to Paramount Skydance, a media company owned by Trump allies Larry and David Ellison.