President Trump's mounting frustration with the Iran conflict erupted Thursday in a blistering attack on the media, accusing The New York Times of publishing 'seditious' content and labeling CNN as 'stupid' and 'the enemy.' While Trump has a long history of lashing out at journalists, the intensity of Thursday's remarks signaled a deeper unease with a war that is not going as planned.
The war, now in its second month, has seen U.S. forces strike thousands of targets in Iran, but the Islamic Republic's leadership remains defiant. The conflict has driven oil prices sharply higher, pushing the national average gas price to $4.39, up more than 30 cents in the last week alone, according to AAA. Before the war, the average was below $3. The economic toll is mounting, with the Pentagon estimating at least $25 billion in direct costs, and broader economic damage far exceeding that.
Public opinion is souring. A Washington Post poll released Friday found that 61% of Americans—including nearly 1 in 5 Republicans—now view the war as a 'mistake.' Trump, however, insists victory is already achieved. In a Thursday phone interview with Newsmax, he told host Greta Van Susteren: 'We've already won, but I want to win by a bigger margin.'
That claim is at odds with reality on the ground. The death of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the war's first day was meant to trigger regime change, but his son Mojtaba Khamenei, a close ally of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has taken over. Iran still possesses a stockpile of highly enriched uranium, despite Trump's previous boasts that airstrikes had 'obliterated' nuclear sites. Meanwhile, Iran's ability to effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz—a chokepoint for about one-fifth of the world's oil—has given Tehran a powerful lever. Trump responded with an additional blockade on Iranian ports, but that has yet to yield a breakthrough.
The media's coverage of these setbacks has clearly irked the president. In the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump complained: 'If you see CNN, you think they are winning the war. If you read The New York Times, it's actually seditious, in my opinion.' He added that columnists at the Times 'all start with the top' and called it 'a terrible thing.' The charge of sedition escalated a pattern of attacks that has intensified over the past two weeks. On April 20, Trump posted on social media that the 'Anti-America Fake News Media' were 'rooting for Iran to win.' The next day, he labeled a Wall Street Journal op-ed writer an 'IDIOT' and 'MORON' for a piece titled 'The Iranians take Trump for a sucker.'
Critics argue Trump's anger is misdirected. 'It's a frustration that he has with what is going on with Iran and how people have responded, not necessarily the coverage,' said Susan Del Percio, a GOP strategist often critical of Trump. 'He just wants the coverage he wants, not surprisingly. It's his frustration that makes him lash out, and it's very par for the course.'
Tobe Berkovitz, a Boston University professor emeritus specializing in political communications, noted that Trump's own early boasts have boxed him in. 'Trump made certain very aggressive statements about how long this was going to last, how we were going to win, what he was going to do—and most of those have not, at this point, been fulfilled,' Berkovitz said. 'So the goals he very aggressively communicated? The media looks at them and says, 'Can we put a check-mark next to these?' And the answer, for the moment, is 'No, we can't.''
Some within the administration have defended Trump's handling. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at a mid-April news conference, compared reporters to the Pharisees of biblical times, accusing them of 'politically motivated animus for President Trump that nearly completely blinds you from the brilliance of our American warriors.' The remark drew criticism for implying a parallel between Trump and Christ. Even back in late March, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens wrote a piece headlined 'The war is going better than...'—a reference to the administration's optimistic spin. For now, the war's trajectory remains uncertain, and Trump's media attacks show no signs of abating.
