The Pentagon and White House have slammed CNN over its coverage of the war in Iran, with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth saying he looked forward to an ally of President Donald Trump taking over the news network, AFP reports.
Hegseth spent part of a news conference on US military operations against Tehran, criticising the media and CNN in particular, urging for what he called an “actual patriotic press.”
The secretary, a former Fox News host, was particularly incensed by a story the channel ran suggesting Washington had underestimated Iran’s ability to disrupt global oil traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Patently ridiculous,” Hegseth told reporters, before adding: “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”
David Ellison is the head of Paramount Skydance, which is set to complete a landmark takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, the current owner of CNN, after beating Netflix in a bidding war. His father, Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, largely financed the takeover and is also a longtime ally and financial backer of US President Donald Trump.
The White House also blasted the CNN story on the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the world oil trade.
“This story is 100 per cent fake news,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X.
“The Pentagon has been planning for Iran’s desperate and reckless closure of the Strait of Hormuz for decades, and it has been part of the Trump Administration’s planning well before Operation Epic Fury was ever launched,” Leavitt said.
