White House press secretary Leavitt rejects CNN Iran report as fake news
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday strongly rejected a CNN report that said President Donald Trump’s national security team was unprepared for the possibility of Iran taking action to close the Strait of Hormuz following US attacks.
“This story is 100% FAKE NEWS,” Leavitt wrote in xHe accused CNN of relying on anonymous sources and advocating that the administration plan for such a scenario.
Leavitt said the Pentagon had been planning for decades for the possibility of Iran closing the strait and that the threat was part of the administration’s plan before Operation Epic Rage began.
“The idea that Chairman Cain and Secretary Hegseth were not prepared for this possibility is RATIONAL,” he continued. “The President has been fully briefed on this, and the goal of the operation is to destroy the terrorist Iranian regime’s navy, missiles, drone production infrastructure, and other threat capabilities, literally depriving them of their ability to close the Bosphorus.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt answers questions during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on March 10, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
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The Strait of Hormuz has become a focal point of the conflict because about one-fifth of the world’s oil shipments pass through the waterway.
CNN reported It said Thursday that Trump’s national security team “failed to fully take into account the potential consequences of what some officials describe as the worst-case scenario now facing the administration.”
The report cited anonymous sources “familiar with the matter.”
On March 1, 2026, a navy ship is seen navigating the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which much of the world’s oil and natural gas passes. (Sahar AL ATTAR/AFP via Getty Images)
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Leavitt’s criticism was echoed by Republican lawmakers and administration officials who called the CNN report inaccurate.
Senator Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote to X: “As chairman of the Intelligence Committee, let me be clear: Whoever leaked this lied.” “CNN should check some facts.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also criticized the report in a speech at the Pentagon on Friday, calling it “just another fake news from CNN” and “plain nonsense.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth speaks at the opening of the Inter-American Countercartel Conference at U.S. Southern Command Headquarters on March 5, 2026 in Doral, Florida. The conference is being held to address narcoterrorism with regional defense and security leaders from the Caribbean, Central America and South America. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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“For decades, Iran has been threatening shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. That’s what they always do, hold the strait hostage.” “CNN thinks we’re not thinking about it.”
CNN released a statement on the story on Friday: “This story has been updated to reflect additional developments and to clarify that senior Trump administration officials briefed lawmakers on long-standing military plans to address a major disruption in the Strait, according to an official, but there was no indication of a near-term solution, multiple sources familiar with the hearing said.”
“We stand behind our reporting,” CNN told Fox News Digital when reached for comment on Friday.
CNN president and CEO Mark Thompson said they “stand by our journalism” on X.
The White House has clashed repeatedly with major news organizations this week over coverage of the Iran conflict.
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Leavitt called on ABC News on Thursday to retract a report that claimed the FBI had officially warned that Iran might try to attack California with drones.
He called the report “misinformation intended to deliberately alarm the American public” and added that the story was based on “an email sent to local law enforcement in California about a single, unconfirmed tip.”
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ABC News has since updated his story “The FBI sent a more comprehensive version of the alert to California authorities, which also included that the information had not been verified. The latest version of this story has been updated with the full statement,” an editor’s note said.
Fox News’ Alexander Hall and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
