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The Reporters Who Carried the DIA Damage Assessment, and Were Called Fake

What they reported​

In late June 2025, CNN and others reported a preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that the U.S. strikes had set Iran's program back by months, not years, and that some enriched uranium had been moved beforehand (Al Jazeera, 25 June 2025).

How they were answered​

  • The White House titled its release: "Iran's Nuclear Facilities Have Been Obliterated — and Suggestions Otherwise are Fake News" (archived).
  • At a 26 June 2025 Pentagon press conference, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the report was leaked "because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters," and told Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin: "Jennifer, you've been about the worst — the one who misrepresents the most — intentionally." CBS reported the President asked whether the New York Times and CNN "will be firing the reporters who made up the FAKE stories on the Iran Nuclear sites" (CBS News).

What the record later showed​

Three weeks later a new U.S. assessment, reported by NBC, found only Fordow mostly destroyed and the other two sites able to resume enrichment "in the next several months" (NBC News, 17 July 2025). Israel's own military intelligence had never said "obliterated" (Times of Israel). The reporters had described a real document.

The pattern continued in 2026​

In March 2026 Justice Department subpoenas reached Wall Street Journal reporters, seeking records tied to leaks about Pentagon concerns over a prolonged Iran campaign (as summarized from the WSJ by @sharing2025, 18 May 2026). See Censorship of the War.

Sources​

Status: Pete Hegseth: Alive. Jennifer Griffin: Alive.

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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