CNN Gives Iran State Media Report Breaking Coverage, MS NOW Urges Caution

As for Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough and David Ignatius gave more caveats to the Iranian reports, as they rightfully pointed out the regime’s previous lies. The MS NOW show still gave some credence to the report. At 6:25, CNN’s screen flashed with a voiceover announcement of “This is CNN Breaking News” as Cornish then stated, “Ok. We're just learning this breaking news out of the Middle East. Iranian state media is reporting that Iran claims to have hit a U.S. naval ship with two missiles.” Monday's CNN This Morning treated an Iranian State Media report on Iranian missiles striking U.S. Naval vessels as credible. This led to Breaking News coverage on the network. There was no other reporting other than state media at first, but CNN ran with it anyway pic.twitter.com/tdmaeRhYaG — Nick (@nspin310) May 4, 2026 The CNN panel of journalists came in to hit on “Project Freedom,” the new U.S. military plan to open the Strait of Hormuz, as they questioned the U.S.’s might amid the reports. Courtney Subramanian of Bloomberg blamed the possible strikes on the absence of an international coalition. Another panelist, AP reporter and CNN analyst Seung Min Kim, thought about the possible next steps as she wondered how “our international partners respond.” The report CNN cited came directly from Iranian state media with little critical questions of it’s validity. A post on X displayed similar information to what CNN reported at the time. However, it was extremely interesting that CNN would give a sole Iranian state media report enough validity to present Breaking News coverage with the information, as even the reporters on the panel treated the news as fully factual, even with Cornish’s very slight disclaimers. The report was later deemed untrue, as the media cited a U.S. official who said it was false. Some other reports have claimed there were “warning shots.” CNN's Nic Robertson said the report helped Iran and said, in that context, over Project Freedom, Iran wins the day, it would appear.” CNN was part of the group that would have helped Iran win the day, as Robertson suggests, since they cited a false state media report. pic.twitter.com/yV7fIBNqPl — Nick (@nspin310) May 4, 2026 Later, with CNN editor Nic Robertson, Cornish mentioned, in an understatement Iran media sometimes “prove not to be True,” but instead was used to instill “fear.” Robertson agreed and amplified fears, and stated Iran has appeared to win the day: Will Iran's messaging here put off those commercial vessels from transiting the Strait of Hormuz? And if it does, then in that context, over Project Freedom, Iran wins the day, it would appear. CNN was part of the group that would have helped Iran win the day, as Robertson suggests, since they cited a false report. MS NOW's Morning Joe also broke in with coverage, but host Joe Scarborough made multiple references to the previous lies of the Iranian regime, as he and David Ignatius urged caution, with the possibility that some of what they have said amid this war has been confirmed. https://t.co/d0blQNVFg6 pic.twitter.com/sWdDLAYDna — Nick (@nspin310) May 4, 2026 On Morning Joe, there was a more balanced approach to the coverage of the event, as Scarborough’s principled Iran stance somewhat remained, as he called them liars while he also gave their reports some validity: Again, this is Iranian state media. They have, of course, been lying since 1979. That said, in this war, often what they've reported has ended up being confirmed by Western news sources. Frequent guest David Ignatius urged caution and said “we have to be careful with this first report” before he went through hypothetical responses. But, Jonathan Lemire, similar to his previous want of war casualties to hurt Trump politically, then thought of potential escalation if the reports were true: “But this feels like it could be a step to resuming hostilities.” CNN’s rush to report information from state media was a questionable decision when even Morning Joe and MS NOW urged caution about the reports. The transcripts from CNN and MS NOW are below. Click expand: CNN This Morning May 5, 2026 6:25:47 AM Eastern CNN NARRATOR: This is CNN Breaking News. CORNISH: Ok. We're just learning this breaking news out of the Middle East. Iranian state media is reporting that Iran claims to have hit a U.S. Naval ship with two missiles. I'm going to bring in Mina al-Oraibi, Editor in Chief for The National. I want to talk to you about this because there have been these double blockades, and we know that the IGRC has been pushing very hard to prevent any movement from ships. Can you give us the context here? MINA AL-ORAIBI: So, this announcement by Iranian state media comes at a time when it's a test of wills. As you said, there's a double blockade. Iran started, of course, by blocking ships trying to come through the Strait of Hormuz and threatening any ships coming through. Then, of course, the U.S. is also stopping ships that are servicing Iran. And this is, of course, mainly about energy flows. But in general, all ships there are being targeted by Iran, and the U.S. is trying to force the Iranians to change their course of action. This breaking news that the Iranians are claiming that they've hit, not only targeted, but hit an American Navy vessel comes at a time hours after President Donald Trump said that they would ensure that vessels would be taken care of and allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz so that they would be an escort. Now, the Iranians are responding by saying, not only will we threaten vessels, we will actually attack the U.S. Navy itself. This could be a moment of military escalation if there is damage to the vessel. We're yet, of course, to hear from CENTCOM, American command here, in terms of the sort of damage that may have happened to the ship. CORNISH: As we said, this is all coming from Iranian state media. (...) 6:30:12 Eastern CORNISH: Okay. Mina, thank you so much. I want to for those of you who are joining us, share this breaking news that we are talking about out of the Middle East. There's the Iranian state media, which is reporting that Iran claims to have hit a U.S. Naval ship with at least two missiles. Courtney, can I talk to you very briefly because you had been telling me what the U.S. Navy was actually sort of what was known about their capabilities in terms of escorting the ships? COURTNEY SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah. The U.S. had talked about, previously, starting escorts through the strait, but we know that the U.S. Navy is not able to protect more than 100 vessels at any point. Western defense officials have said this would absolutely require a multinational coalition, which the president, of course, has so far failed to put together. So, this feels like an effort by the White House to try and get more buy in from the international community. CORNISH: Right. And again, we are talking about this because this claim from Iran, from Iran, local media, is that two missiles hit a U.S. Naval vessel. Right. Like not an oil tanker, not something, not some other countries things, but going directly after the U.S. And its efforts to provide guidance or escorts. And we're awaiting any news from the white house today to find out what may have happened, or U.S. Centcom to talk about what may have happened. Is there any sense that moving forward that they had planned for this eventuality, meaning the attempted attack via missiles from Iran? SUENG MIN KIM: You would have to imagine that they're prepared for these contingencies because even almost immediately after the president announced the so-called Project Freedom, you know, you had Iran claiming that this would be a violation of the ceasefire. I don't think it was difficult to predict that something like this would happen. So, immediately after, I would be really interested in seeing how, you know, our international partners respond. Because going back to Courtney's point, the president really tried to get NATO allies involved in using their warships to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz. And they refused, which is actually what started this whole the latest anger from the president against NATO in the first place. So, we'll be interested to hear the reaction from the White House. I actually just reached out to the white house myself. CORNISH: Out to the white house. We've reached out to CNN, has reached out to CENTCOM. And then in the meantime, we actually have this statement from Iran, which reports that, quote, following a firm and rapid warning by its Navy, the entry of what it described as U.S. and Israeli enemy destroyers into the Strait of Hormuz was prevented. Obviously, if true, this could be a very severe escalation, giving that double blockade meant the Strait of Hormuz was at a standstill. And right as the president starts talking about getting things moving, Iran replies, in this way. (...) 6:34:14 AM Eastern CORNISH: Now, right now, we are hearing conflicting reports. Axios is reporting that the U.S. Officials are denying it. And again, our initial reporting had come from Iranian State Media. This is also a reminder of the fog of information war in the Strait of Hormuz. You have ships that are spoofing, meaning, um, faking their position. You have other ships that are flying different flags or pulling down their flags, and then you have double blockades. It's actually kind of hard to know for all those sailors who are trapped exactly what is going on. And that's why the idea of guidance and this project from the white house was supposed to make a difference. And it's questionable as we awake on this Monday morning if it has. SARA FISCHER: We've talked about this before. The very first act of U.S. Aggression in Iran was bombing a school when it should have been where they thought they were bombing a military base that showed a level of distrust in our military's intelligence. So when we hear the U.S. Now denying that this even occurred or the nature that it occurred, the first thing that my gut goes to is you've gotten the Intel wrong in the past. So now I have to double check your math. Every single solitary time. (...) 6:37:45 AM Eastern CORNISH: In the meantime, we are trying to learn more from U.S. Centcom in their position about whether or not this happened. At the moment, Iran is making all the claims about having struck a naval vessel. You can read Mina's work in The National. Thank you so much for speaking with us. Stay with us. We're going to have more detail on this news out of the Strait of Hormuz. (...) 6:45:26 AM Eastern CORNISH: Nic, I just have to ask something here. Underline something. You said that Iran has claimed in the past to have taken actions that prove not to be true. And so the timing of this sort of begs the question about whether or not this is about instilling fear in all of the cooperative corporations, insurers, whoever, who were just starting to believe that the U.S. Would be able to guide them through the strait. NIC ROBERTSON: Yeah. I mean, it really doubles down on the concerns that those shipping shippers, insurance companies, the maritime, the mariners themselves have about entering the Strait of Hormuz. The UK Maritime Agency that watches that waterway, and other waterways, but it watches that waterway, reported earlier on today that a civilian vessel, a container ship, had been fired upon but with unknown projectiles. The crew was safe. There was no environmental damage. But that same agency warned, uh, you know, commercial vessels that going into the Strait of Hormuz represented a huge danger. That if they did, they should try to stay close to the waterways of Oman on the other side of the strait from Iran. The incident that the Iranians are claiming is much closer to the Iranian coastline. But I think this sense and this warning and guidance that's being given to commercial vessels speaks precisely to that. Their existing fears. And undoubtedly, when Iran claims something like this, it will heighten those fears and concerns. And this is going to be a real space to watch. Will Iran's messaging here put off those commercial vessels from transiting the Strait of Hormuz? And if it does, then in that context, over Project Freedom, Iran wins the day, it would appear. (...) MS NOW’s Morning Joe May 4, 2026 6:29:03 AM Eastern JOE SCARBOROUGH: David Ignatius, we're talking about war, peace, ceasefires, a way forward. But right now, Iranian state media is saying that it has struck a U.S. Two missiles hit a U.S. Navy vessel near Jask Island after it ignored warnings from the revolutionary guard to halt. Again, this is Iranian state media. They have, of course, been lying since 1979. That said, in this war, often what they've reported has ended up being confirmed by Western news sources. So if, in fact, that is the case, that a U.S. Navy ships have been hit after ignoring warnings, obviously we've reached a new level of escalation. David. DAVID IGNATIUS: So, obviously, we have to be careful with this first report. But we're sure that that there is a very precarious situation in the Gulf now in which the U.S. is announcing a desire to help facilitate transit through the Strait of Hormuz, but isn't declaring an actual escort mission. And this morning, we didn't talk much about it, but an Iranian commander said early this morning that U.S. ships would be fired upon if they challenged the Gulf, challenged the Iranian presence. So, we may be seeing a follow up. I'm thinking, as you are, as I'm sure all of our viewers are, what does President Trump do in response to this? When somebody shoots missiles at your ship, you then are almost obligated to take action. And so what was a precarious situation before now becomes even more so. I I'm sure that the Pakistani mediators who've been active now for several weeks are on the phone right now. If this is a revolutionary guard vessel outside the normal Iranian chain of command, that's one thing. If it reflects the decision by the leadership in Tehran, that's another. So much we don't know right now. But I must say, you can just see the black smoke rising from from the gulf and worry that the next, next stage could be another downturn. LEMIRE: Yeah. David, let's spend another minute on this. We should of course, reiterate from Iranian state media, it has not been independently verified. I've texted a few people in the trump administration. No word yet. I mean, you just broke a few moments ago that this alleged event occurred. But if it is true, it is a marked escalation that this is Iran suggesting that, you know, we do control the Strait of Hormuz, and this is a U.S. Warship. You know, there have been attacks on U.S. Ships earlier in the war, largely defended. We have learned, though, that in recent reporting that Iran had more success hitting some U.S. Military bases in the region in the war’s first days than was first known. But if indeed there were some reports, Axios over the weekend reporting that what the president settled upon, this coordination cell for the Strait of Hormuz, was a little bit of a watered-down version. The original plan was to put U.S. Warships as an escort. This, though, highlights the danger of that, and I agree. I think we all have to - we'll have to see what comes out of the White House and the President's Truth Social account in the next few minutes or hours. But this feels like it could be a step to resuming hostilities. (...) 6:34:43 AM Eastern SCARBOROUGH: So, David, speaking of reporting, I'm going to let you sort through this one for all of us. Barak Ravid, of course, with Axios, is saying that a senior U.S. Official denied that a U.S. ship has been hit by Iranian missiles. It is obviously - we're in the early moments of this. So I certainly am not placing any sort of moral equivalency between government of Iran and the U.S. Government. I will simply say we have two eyewitnesses saying that the ships were in fact hit, that according to Al Jazeera. And we have one senior official right now on background telling Axios that no U.S. ship was hit. So, hard to say, and we will need to wait at least a few hours before we get actionable information out of that area. But your thoughts on a U.S. Official denying it to Axios and then other news agencies saying that, in fact, a ship has been hit, according to two eyewitnesses. IGNATIUS: We speak of the fog of war. And here's an example we're having trouble seeing just what happened, and that's not an unusual situation. I think it's appropriate when U.S. Military commanders are careful in their descriptions of actions that are taking place until they've done a thorough examination of what's happened, and that may be some of what we're seeing. People don't want to come through with comments that almost require the president to take action until they know exactly what the situation is and have sized it up. But, you know - this is a moment where every bit of intelligence gathering signals, monitoring capabilities that the United States government has, we should be glad they have, because they're going to - they will find out exactly what's happened, and then hopefully we'll have a careful process to decide what to do. SCARBOROUGH: Exactly. And we will see what happens. It is news in and of itself that Iranian state media wants the world to think they did strike two U.S. ships, while the President of the United States keeps talking about how we're moving toward a deal, moving toward peace, moving toward a plan to move forward in the Strait of Hormuz. As you said, David, it does not appear the Iranians want peace. So, The Washington Post's David Ignatius, I know you've got to leave pretty soon. If you can stay with us a little bit longer, that'd be great. Okay, we'll see, David, and we'll continue also with a new polling and why this war in Iran is so unpopular and has been such a drag on the president and republicans. (...) 7:03:54 AM Eastern SCARBOROUGH: So, we have a couple of things going right here, right now. A little bit after we started the show, we got news reports that Iranian state media said that a U.S. warship had been attacked. Then, Axios said a White House Official denied that - or an administration official, one unnamed administration official denied that to Axios. We're waiting to see. I saw a report out of the U.K. That tracks maritime traffic, put up a warning that a tanker had, in fact, been struck this morning. So, a lot of conflicting news out of the Middle East right now. (...) Nicholas Spinnato Mon, 05/04/2026 - 23:05 Marketing Timing Regular Search Engine Title CNN Covers False Iran State Media Report on US Navy Ship Strike CNS Commentary Off