After watching the American news media’s recent coverage of the escalating hostilities between Washington and Tehran, I see now why Iran’s tyrannical regime grants Western journalists so much access. It could hardly hope for a more sympathetic and pliable audience.
MSNBC, for example, broadcast Iranian propaganda Tuesday evening, claiming that up to 30 U.S. servicemen had been killed in Iranian-led rocket attacks on at least two Iraqi military bases housing American troops.
This does not appear to be the case. In fact, the Iranians seem to have fabricated that number entirely. U.S. officials have told reporters on background that there appear to be no American casualties in the missile strikes.
But even if it were true that some Americans were killed, why not wait for confirmation from a source that is slightly more reliable than the Iranian mullahs?
“The IRGC was saying that Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader of this country, was in the control center coordinating these attacks,” NBC News’s Tehran bureau chief Ali Arouzi told MSNBC host Chris Matthews during a live broadcast.
“This bit I’m not sure about, but Iran state media is claiming that 30 U.S. soldiers have been killed in this attack,” Arouzi added. “This is not confirmed; this is just coming from the Iranian media.”
Here is a tip: If you are not sure about an allegation, don’t repeat it on national television, especially if there is a chance it is Iranian agitprop.
Again, U.S. officials report that there are no American casualties in the Iranian missile strikes, which were launched in retaliation for the U.S. killing of the terrorist Qassem Soleimani.
“This is drawing people from all sides into this — what is potentially the beginning of a war, Chris,” Arouzi continued.
He added, “I don’t know how this is going to go in the coming hours, but it’s not looking good from the rhetoric that came out from President Trump earlier today saying that he will retaliate against any retaliation from Iran. I think we can expect an attack on Iran imminently.”
Elsewhere Tuesday evening, NBC News’s official Twitter account published an invitation to its seven million-plus followers: “Watch live coverage as Gen. Qassem Soleimani is buried in his hometown of Kerman, Iran.” NBC tweeted a few hours later: “WATCH: Thousands gathered in Iran to witness the burial of Gen. Qassem Soliemani.”
Later, on Wednesday, Arouzi shared a video on social media that he claimed showed the aftermath of the Iranian missile strikes on Iraqi military bases. But the video he shared is actually from 2019. It shows the aftermath of drone attacks on Saudi Aramco oil refineries in Saudi Arabia.
“Iranian state tv releases more video of what they say is that IRGC attack on Ayn al Asad base,” the NBC bureau chief said in a since-deleted tweet. Not even close.
If — God forbid — a shooting war breaks out between the United States and Iran, I sincerely hope the White House has taken into consideration the journalists who seem a little too eager to repeat whatever they hear from the Iranian government and the American newsgroups that seem a little too eager to portray Iranian leadership in sympathetic and heroic tones. As with Vietnam, it may prove too difficult to conduct a war abroad if there is no realistic consideration for dissent at home.
