President Donald Trump’s press secretary melted down over a report that the commander in chief’s war in Iran isn’t as successful as he says it is.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt lashed out on X at “the legacy media” in response to a CBS News report that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s military capabilities are more resilient than the administration and the Pentagon have admitted.
“The legacy media is doing PR for the Iranian regime... again,” Leavitt, 28, wrote in response to the report being shared by CBS News senior White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs. “The truth is that under President Trump’s leadership, the U.S. military decimated the Iranian regime’s capabilities in just 38 days.”
“Iran’s defense industrial base was almost completely destroyed. Iran’s ability to build and stockpile ballistic missiles and long-range drones has been set back by years,” she continued. “The vast majority of Iran’s ballistic missiles, launcher vehicles, and long-range attack drones were destroyed.”
“The Iranian navy was annihilated with more than 150 of their ships sunk. And Iran’s air forces are functionally and operationally irrelevant now.”
Reached for comment, the White House referred the Daily Beast to Leavitt’s post.
The CBS News report, citing multiple U.S. officials briefed on the matter, said that about half of Iran’s ballistic missile stockpile and associated launch systems were still intact since the ceasefire began on April 7.
The officials told the outlet that around 60 percent of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ naval forces remain intact, including fast-attack gunboats, and that though the nation’s air power was significantly reduced, it has not been entirely wiped out.
About two-thirds of the country’s air force is believed to still be operational, the officials said.
Trump, 79, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have frequently asserted American military dominance over Tehran in the military action dubbed “Operation Epic Fury,” claiming that the country’s military has been “decimated.”
“Their missile program is functionally destroyed, launchers, production facilities, and existing stockpiles depleted and decimated and almost completely ineffective,” Hegseth, 45, told reporters earlier this month.
The president also claimed earlier this month that Iran’s naval capacity had been “completely obliterated,” though he asserted that the U.S. would continue to strike the nation’s “fast attack ships” that come close to the American blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.
Hours before a fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran was set to expire on Tuesday, Trump announced an indefinite extension, saying the U.S. would halt attacks until Iran’s leaders “come up with a unified proposal.”
The president’s announcement came as scheduled peace talks in Islamabad, with a U.S. delegation led by Vice President JD Vance, fell apart. Iranian representatives said they would not attend the diplomatic meeting unless the U.S. lifted its blockade on the strait.
