President Donald Trump fired a verbal salvo at CNN after the little-watched cable network published a statement from Iran that the commander-in-chief labeled a “fraud.” As it has done throughout the U.S. conflict with the Islamic Republic, CNN readily published a statement from Tehran claiming that Iran was victorious and “forced” Trump to accept a 10-point cease-fire agreement.
“Iran says it has achieved a great victory and forced the United States to accept its 10-point plan, according to a statement from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council” that was reported “by Iranian state media,” CNN’s report began.
The network also claimed that, as part of the plan, the U.S. “has in principle agreed” to lift all sanctions against Iran and withdraw all US forces from all bases in the region.
The report also said the Trump administration has agreed to “accept Iran’s nuclear enrichment and recognize its control over the Strait of Hormuz, while “controlled passage through the waterway” would be conducted in coordination with Iran’s military.
The report from the Iranian regime was clearly propaganda, which led to questions as to why CNN would treat it as legitimate, especially considering that Trump’s primary objective was to destroy Iran’s nuclear enrichment capabilities and deny the regime nuclear weapons.
To that point, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to call out the network:
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 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.
He then added in another post:
No one can believe that Fake News CNN put out a knowingly false and dangerous statement pretending it came from the upper levels of the Iranian Government. It didn’t! It was totally made up and posted, as a headline, for purpose of, perhaps, inflaming a very delicate situation. It was a new, trouble making site from Nigeria, and CNN just got caught cheating – A very dangerous thing to do!
Vice President JD Vance, speaking to an audience in Hungary alongside Prime Minister Viktor Orban early Tuesday, addressed the then-looming deadline for Iran to make a cease-fire deal with the United States before Trump makes good on a threat to annihilate the country’s power grid and other infrastructure.
“We feel confident that we can get a response, whether it’s positive or negative, we’re gonna get a response from the Iranians by 8 o’clock tonight,” Vance began. “I hope they make the right response because what we really want is we want a world where oil and gas is flowing freely, where people can afford to heat their homes and cool their homes, where people can afford to transport themselves to work.
“That’s not gonna happen if the Iranians are engaged in acts of economic terrorism,” the vice president continued. “They’ve got to know, we’ve got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use. The president of the United States can decide to use them, and he will decide to use them if the Iranians don’t change their course of conduct.”
"I hope they make the right response," says @VP on Iran.
"They've got to know, we've got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven't decided to use. @POTUS can decide to use them, and he will decide to use them if the Iranians don't change their course of conduct." pic.twitter.com/UUiQ5SdEO5
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 7, 2026
A week ago, Trump said Iran had agreed to allow additional oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, describing the move as a “tribute” to the United States as negotiations continue over a potential end to the escalating conflict.
