Gabbard Calls CNN Report on Iran Strikes ‘Propaganda,’ Iran Says Sites ‘Badly Damaged’

CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard have pushed back on a recent report from CNN (Lean Left bias) that said the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities only set them back a few months. Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the sites were “badly damaged.”

The Report: CNN attributed its report to “seven people briefed on” an “early US intelligence assessment” from the Pentagon’s intelligence arm, the Defense Intelligence Agency. CNN wrote, “Two of the people familiar with the assessment said Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed. One of the people said the centrifuges are largely ‘intact.’ Another source said that the intelligence assessed enriched uranium was moved out of the sites prior to the US strikes.”

Ratcliffe, Gabbard Push Back: Ratcliffe and Gabbard pushed back on the report and described it as poor journalistic practice. Ratcliffe wrote, “The CIA can confirm that a body of credible intelligence indicates Iran’s nuclear program has been severely damaged,” and described CNN’s report as “illegally sourced.” Gabbard wrote, “The propaganda media has deployed their usual tactic: selectively release portions of illegally leaked classified intelligence assessments (intentionally leaving out the fact that the assessment was written with ‘low confidence’) to try to undermine President Trump’s decisive leadership.”

Iranian Statement: Several media outlets separately covered a claim Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei made to Al Jazeera (Lean Left), that Iran’s “nuclear installations” were “badly damaged” by Israeli and American strikes.

How The Media Covered It: CNN’s report was quickly picked up by many mainstream outlets, mostly from the left and center, but not as much by the right. Pushback from the Trump administration was covered across the spectrum and widely by the right.

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