CNN’s reporting on Strait of Hormuz riles White House

Defense &National Security

Defense &National Security

CNN’s reporting on Strait of Hormuz riles White House

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth set the tone for the day when he ripped into CNN at the Pentagon’s Iran briefing on Friday morning. 

The Pentagon chief was angry about the network’s reporting that administration officials had failed to prepare for the possibility that Iran would move to close the Strait of Hormuz if it came under sustained assault. 

“CNN doesn’t think we thought of that. It’s a fundamentally unserious report. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” Hegseth, a former Fox News host, told reporters.

A number of White House officials and Republicans in Congress joined the CNN bashing in the ensuing hours. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the story “100% FAKE NEWS” and “garbage.”

“THE TRUTH: 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 wrote on X.

White House communications director Steven Cheung reacted to a post from the X account PatriotTakes asking if it is “normal for the military to be commenting on how news networks should be ran?”

“Yes 100%,” Cheung wrote in his post. “When Fake News outlets like CNN publishes verifiably false information, it is completely appropriate to comment on how shitty outlets are run.”

CNN later added a clarification to the story that reads: “This story has been updated to reflect additional developments and clarify that top Trump administration officials briefed lawmakers on long-standing military plans to address a major disruption to the Strait, according to one official, but that multiple sources familiar with the session said there was no indication there were any near-term solutions.”

The anger from the Pentagon and White House underscored the pressure facing the Trump administration to resolve the quagmire in the Strait of Hormuz, which remains largely closed off amid the war, pushing up gas prices and threatening global shortages of fertilizer and helium, a key component of chipmaking. 

At the top of the press briefing, Hegseth played down the problem. 

“We have been dealing with it; don’t need to worry about it,” he told reporters. 

Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & National Security newsletter, I’m Colin Meyn filling in for Ellen Mitchell — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.

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Events in and around the defense world: 

The Brookings Institution is hosting a discussion on Monday at 2 p.m. ET on “Turkey in a Middle East at war.” 

The American German Institute is hosting a book discussion on Monday at 12 p.m. ET on “NATO After Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: Threat Perceptions and Their Consequences.” 

The Hudson Institute is hosting a discussion on Monday morning at 9:30 a.m. ET on “Prioritizing Political Prisoner Advocacy Across China.”

News we’ve flagged from other outlets:

U.S.-Made Launcher Fired Missiles From Bahrain Toward Iran, Video Shows, The New York Times reports.

Vance was ‘skeptical’ voice in White House on Iran strikes, Politico reports.

A year into Hegseth’s cuts, defense civilians report ‘degraded performance’ and low morale, Defense One reports.

With Iran war exit elusive, Trump aides vie to affect outcome, Reuters reports. 

Two key stories on The Hill right now:

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Opinions in The Hill 

Op-eds related to defense & national security submitted to The Hill:

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Putin’s prize: The oil price-spike

Both Trump and progressives are foggy on Iran  

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