This is an opinion from the Center.
AllSides classifies outlets on a left-right spectrum. But the recent conflict in Iran recalls the fact that our political system is not so simple, and some issues, like foreign policy, don’t fall neatly into a left-right divide. In fact, the United States’ military engagement in Iran has exposed alignment between certain outlets that usually diverge in bias and divergence between outlets that more often align.
It’s no secret that the right and President Donald Trump’s “America First” movement comprises diverse views on foreign policy. Vice President J.D. Vance, for example, has previously criticized United States support for Ukraine and has been called an isolationist by some reports, while the Trump administration has recently pursued a foreign policy focused on international intervention in Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, and Greenland. International commitments have inspired tension in the Republican Party; Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who resigned from Congress in January 2026, criticized President Trump for his foreign travels and policies that “are not America first.”
It seems natural, then, that the outlets rated Lean Right and Right are not all on the same page about the action in Iran. For example, Newsmax (Right bias) published an article headlined “Iran Warns of Long War That Would 'Destroy' World Economy.” Departing from the pro-Trump message that is expected from a Right-rated source, Newsmax highlighted rising oil prices, divergent narratives advanced by Trump and partners in Israel, and the ongoing “havoc” in the middle east.
Meanwhile, Fox News (Right bias) has presented a more positive picture of the situation in Iran. While one article’s headline referenced oil prices — “Iran war, 11 days in: US controls skies, oil surges and the region braces for what’s next” — the article buried discussion of oil beneath more extensive discussion of United States military success and dominance, ending its brief section on oil with a note that “Trump warned Monday that Iran will be hit ‘20 times harder’ than it already has if it threatens ships in the Strait.”
The Daily Wire (Right bias), which was co-founded by staunch zionist Ben Shapiro (Right), also framed the Trump administration positively amidst its reference to oil prices, running an article headlined “Trump Nukes Oil Price Critics, Puts Real Stakes In Perspective.”
This difference in coverage between outlets in the same column of the AllSides Media Bias Chart like Newsmax, Fox News, and The Daily Wire reflects the diversity of the political right on foreign policy.
It is worth noting that a 2024 Washington Post (Lean Left) report showed that Newsmax had received about $50 million from a Qatari royal; this funding relationship may inspire a bias against military action that sows instability in the Middle East.
Nonetheless, it is clear that elements on the right — and not just Newsmax — oppose the Trump administration’s action in Iran. For example, Freddy Gray, a British contributor to The Spectator World (Right bias) who has published conservative views in the past (e.g. an article headlined “Why do men in dresses keep killing people?”) wrote an article titled “We don’t know what’s going on or why we’re doing this’: how Trump’s Iran gamble backfired” in which he criticized President Trump for causing “mayhem.”
As outlets on the right diverge with respect to Iran, coverage from some outlets on opposing sides of the bias spectrum have shown uncharacteristic similarities. Discussing spiking oil prices, OAN (Right bias) referenced the possibility of “a surge of debilitating inflation for the global economy” and Axios (Lean Left bias) claimed, “If the military situation doesn't change soon, it will create a moderate stagflationary drag on the US economy and a substantial one on Europe and East Asia.” Neither outlet referenced President Trump’s more optimistic statements regarding oil prices.
Meanwhile, both Politico (Lean Left bias) and the Washington Times (Lean Right bias) included President Trump’s claim that “...when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money” in their reports on the oil price spikes, and both outlets discussed instability caused by action in Iran, with the Washington Times also including criticism from Democratic leaders like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
These similarities across the spectrum may simply display a commitment from media on both sides of the spectrum to present stories that move beyond their political biases. That is, perhaps OAN wished to inform its readers of concerns that those who oppose President Trump are raising, or Politico wished to present the President’s response to the oil price situation.
But realistically, these cross-spectrum convergences are not representative of a newfound commitment to bipartisanship in news media. Instead, consider the similarities to be a minor-yet-telling demonstration of the Horseshoe Theory.
An article from the Vanderbilt Political Review explains the Theory: “Attributed to French author and philosopher Jean-Pierre Faye, horseshoe theory asserts that extreme leftism (communism) and extreme rightism (fascism) are closer to one another than either is to the political center.”
While the examples from individual articles on a specific topic, as presented above, are not demonstrative of trends on the far right or far left, they do represent the fragmentation of both the right and the left over foreign policy.
In the past — during the War on Terror, for example — there existed consensus among both the establishment left and the establishment right that the United States had a responsibility to act against anti-American regimes and to support Israeli operations in the Middle East. That understanding has eroded. Some forces on the left oppose President Trump’s use of military force and also demanded that President Biden reconsider support for Israel in 2024. Some forces on the right oppose President Trump’s international intervention and call for a focus on domestic policy.
Both left and right comprise diverse perspectives, and reporting on the conflict in Iran has exposed differences between outlets that AllSides rates with near-identical bias ratings and similarities between outlets that are otherwise considered political opposites. On foreign policy, the political spectrum is not as simple as left versus right, interventionist versus isolationist, or militarism versus diplomacy.
Ian Rosenzweig is a Bias Research Assistant for AllSides. He has a Center bias.
This piece was reviewed and edited by Director of Research Andrew Weinzierl (Lean Left) and News & Bias Analyst Johnathon Held (Lean Right).
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