Trump slams CNN and NYT for calling Iran strikes a failure as he hails bombings as 'historic success'

WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump just went scorched earth on CNN and The New York Times.

Trump came out swinging on Tuesday, June 24, accusing both media outlets of spreading lies about the US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.

“Fake news CNN, together with the failing New York Times, have teamed up in an attempt to demean one of the most successful military strikes in history. The nuclear sites in Iran are completely destroyed! Both The Times and CNN are getting slammed by the public!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

It came after CNN ran a report citing a classified preliminary assessment from the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). According to the report, the US strikes may not have caused the level of damage Trump has been boasting about.

In fact, CNN sources claimed that Iran’s key nuclear infrastructure, particularly the uranium-enriching centrifuges — remained operational, and that Tehran had the foresight to relocate its enriched uranium stockpiles before the bombs were dropped.

That intelligence reportedly led officials to conclude that the attacks may have bought the US only a “few months tops.”

Donald Trump's team hits back, experts say bombs won’t kill knowledge

Trump’s loyalists weren’t having it. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told CNN that the Iranian program had been thoroughly trashed.

“Our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons. The impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran,” Hegseth declared, adding that critics of the strike were simply trying to “undermine the president and the successful mission.”

Over on Fox News, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, focused on the infamous Fordow facility — deeply buried and notoriously difficult to destroy.

“We put 12 bunker buster bombs on Fordow. There’s no doubt that it breached the canopy and there’s no doubt that it was obliterated. So the reporting out there that in some way suggests that we did not achieve the objective is just completely preposterous” he explained.

But not everyone’s buying it. While Trump and his team are painting the operation as a "historic" triumph, arms control experts are waving red flags.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, told Newsweek that the attacks might only pause Iran’s progress and could even backfire in the long run.

"Military strikes alone cannot destroy Iran's nuclear knowledge and would strengthen its resolve to reconstitute sensitive nuclear activities, possibly withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and then proceeding to weaponization," he told the outlet.

The danger, some fear, is that the strike could push Iran further down the nuclear path rather than stop it.

Donald Trump tells Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back Iran strike amid fragile truce

Trump played a pivotal role in brokering a fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel. With a truce barely holding after two weeks of fighting, Trump reportedly picked up the phone and called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the middle of a military operation.

Trump said he asked Netanyahu to pull back Israeli warplanes that were “on the verge of attacking Iran.” The president told reporters aboard Air Force One, “And they did, which I respect very greatly, so nobody was killed.”

He also added, “Iran’s not going to have a nuclear weapon, by the way. I think it’s the last thing on their mind right now.”

Earlier, he had even posted a blunt warning to Israel: “Do not drop those bombs." He also took a shot at both countries involved, telling reporters at the White House that Iran and Israel “don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.”

According to Axios, a White House insider revealed that “the president told Netanyahu what needed to happen to sustain the ceasefire. The prime minister understood the severity of the situation and the concerns President Trump expressed.”

However, a senior Israeli official told reporters that Netanyahu informed Trump he couldn’t cancel the strike outright — something had to be done in response to Iran’s alleged violation of the truce.

“In the end, it was decided to significantly scale back the strike, cancel the attack on a large number of targets, and strike only one radar system outside of Tehran,” the official said.

CNN’s Jake Tapper claims Donald Trump is 'shooting the messengers'

CNN anchor Jake Tapper spoke out on 'The Lead,' defending journalists and news outlets targeted by Trump in his latest attacks on the media. 

“Today, President Trump and his administration are going after shooting the messengers in an increasingly ugly way,” Tapper said. “They’re calling journalists ‘fake news’ for true stories. They’re calling for an excellent CNN reporter, Natasha Bertrand, to be fired, which is preposterous — and to which a CNN statement today reads, ‘we stand 100% behind Natasha Bertrand’s journalism,’ as they should. The Trump administration is also accusing any news media who reports on this intel assessment as not being patriotic.”

He said, “The key questions for the American people in the world are simply about the degree of success of the operation, and the current state of Iran’s nuclear weapons program and what the intelligence — not the politicians — what the intelligence reveals. Our obligation as journalists is not to praise President Trump, or protect his feelings, or to disparage him, or to praise him — for that matter. Our obligation is to report facts.”