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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday forcefully rejected a CNN report that said President Donald Trump’s national security team was unprepared for the possibility Iran would move to close the Strait of Hormuz after U.S. strikes.
“This story is 100% FAKE NEWS,” Leavitt wrote on X, accusing CNN of relying on anonymous sources and defending the administration’s planning for such a scenario.
Leavitt said the Pentagon had planned for a possible Iranian closure of the strait for decades and said the threat had been part of the administration’s planning before Operation Epic Fury began.
“The idea that chairman Cain and Secretary Hegseth weren’t prepared for this possibility is PREPOSTEROUS,” she continued.
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“The President was fully briefed on it, and a goal of the Operation itself, to annihilate the terrorist Iranian regime’s navy, missiles, drone production infrastructure, and other threat capabilities is quite literally intended to deprive them of their ability to close the Strait.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt takes questions during a news briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House March 10, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The Strait of Hormuz has become a focal point in the conflict because roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil shipments pass through the waterway.
CNN reported Thursday that Trump’s national security team “failed to fully account for the potential consequences of what some officials have described as a worst-case scenario now facing the administration.”
The report cited anonymous sources “familiar with the matter.”
A navy vessel sails on March 1, 2026, through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which much of the world’s oil and gas passes. (Sahar Al Attar/AFP via Getty Images)
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Leavitt’s criticism was echoed by Republican lawmakers and administration officials who called the CNN report false.
“As chairman of the Intelligence Committee, let me make clear: whoever leaked this lied,” Sen. Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote on X. “CNN should do some fact-checking.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also blasted the report during remarks at the Pentagon Friday, calling it “more fake news from CNN” and “patently ridiculous.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth speaks during the inaugural Americas Counter Cartel Conference at the U.S. Southern Command Headquarters March 5, 2026, in Doral, Fla. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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“For decades, Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This is always what they do, hold the strait hostage,” he added. “CNN doesn’t think we thought of that.”
CNN issued a clarification to the story on Friday, which said, “This story has been updated to reflect additional developments and clarify that top Trump administration officials briefed lawmakers on long-standing military plans to address a major disruption to the Strait, according to one official, but that multiple sources familiar with the session said there was no indication there were any near-term solutions.”
“We stand by our reporting,” CNN told Fox News Digital when reached for comment Friday.
CNN Chairman and CEO Mark Thompson said on X, “We stand by our journalism.”
The White House has repeatedly clashed with major news outlets this week over coverage of the Iran conflict.
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Leavitt called for ABC News to retract a story Thursday that claimed the FBI had officially warned Iran may try to attack California with drones.
She called the report “false information to intentionally alarm the American people,” adding that the story was based on “one email that was sent to local law enforcement in California about a single, unverified tip.”
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ABC News has since updated its story with an editor’s note declaring, “The FBI has posted a fuller version of its alert to California authorities, which includes that the information was unverified. The latest version of this story has been updated with the full statement.”
Fox News’ Alexander Hall and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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