Doomer media’s Iran spin is blatantly mistaken — right here’s the best way to type fact from lies

Gen. Colin Powell frequently advised his intelligence analysts, “Tell me what you know; tell me what you don’t know; and then, based on what you really know and what you really don’t know, tell me what you think is most likely to happen.”

His sage guidance is equally valid today — especially when it comes to the media reporting on the war in Iran.

Going by the headlines, you’d think the United States is losing.

Iran, analyst Robert Kagan told us last week in The Atlantic, has effectively checkmated President Donald Trump.

Really? After only 38 days of actual fighting?

Let’s be clear, Kagan got it wrong.

Yet he’s not alone: For over a month now, many in the media have been writing the epitaph of a war that isn’t over.

“Doomsdaying” –– OK, not a word, but necessary here –– is rapidly becoming Washington’s favorite sport.

And selling defeat, undoubtedly for partisan political purposes, is shamefully in vogue.

No wonder Trump is frustrated.

On Monday, he fumed on Truth Social that even if the regime surrenders, with its leaders physically waving white flags, headlines will scream of Iran’s “Masterful and Brilliant Victory over The United States of America.”

During World War II, Winston Churchill warned that truth must be protected by a bodyguard of lies.

Today, far too many actors across the entire media spectrum are, wittingly or not, becoming the new bodyguard of lies.

And most of the distortions they’re spreading come courtesy of anonymous sources — such as the reports spread last week by major media outlets claiming Iran could still possess 75% of its missile and launcher capacity.

Iran is the only beneficiary here.

Historically, it’s the enemy that creates the fog of war on the battlefield — yet now, social media is driving us to create our own media fog that only serves to aid Tehran.

So how do we see through the mist of misdirection?

First, by heeding Gen. Powell’s guidance: Tell me what you know.

That best knowledge comes from Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command.

He is responsible for prosecuting the Iran operation and for achieving its assigned military objectives.

His intelligence analysts and targeteers at CENTCOM, supported by the Defense Intelligence Enterprise, possess the most precise and up-to-date battle damage-assessment data.

Notably, those data points do not come from anonymous sources within the Pentagon or the US intelligence community leaking undocumented or incomplete information.

When Cooper testified last week before the Senate Armed Services Committee regarding the US military’s posture in the Middle East, his comments differed starkly from the media’s drumbeat of failure.

Tellingly, his testimony aligned with what Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said days later, when he admitted that Iran “suffered harm” and that the regime must face the “reality” of the war.

Cooper noted that “CENTCOM rolled back 40 years of Iranian military investment” during Operation Epic Fury.

Doing so required 10,200 sorties and 13,500 strikes that “damaged or destroyed 85% of Iran’s ballistic missile, drone and naval defense industrial base.”

He specified that 82% of Iran’s air defense systems, “along with their radar and command architecture were knocked out.”

And the United States sank 161 Iranian vessels, eliminating the regime as “a maritime power.”

Simply put, he explained, Iran is losing.

Yes, Cooper said, “Iran retains nuisance capability –– harassment, low-end drone and rocket attacks and residual proxy support.”

However, even if those capabilities could be combined, they’re insufficient to militarily checkmate or defeat the United States.

And based on Cooper’s sworn testimony, the US has multiple clear paths to tactical and strategic victory in Iran.

If Trump resumes offensive military operations as he has threatened, CENTCOM must transition from conventional military targets to attack the regime’s asymmetrical capabilities — its “nuisance capability” — and re-establish shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Light infantry, including paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, Army Rangers, Marines and Special Forces, would be deployed to secure the far side of the objective: the Iranian coastline.

Raids and assaults would focus on destroying hidden speedboats, coastal defense batteries, drone launch sites and targets of opportunity observed by persistent surveillance. 

Those operations would thwart Tehran’s ability to counter US Navy minesweepers and countermine ships sent to open the shipping lanes.

Destroying Iran’s center of gravity, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its paramilitary forces will be the last heavy lift.

That will require the help of allies, primarily Israel, whose defense forces are uniquely qualified — given Mossad assets on the ground — to continue decapitating Iran’s leadership.

Otherwise, they’ll keep conducting asymmetric attacks on US and allied forces, giving the appearance of victory despite being on the cusp of defeat.

Meanwhile, listen to solid sources like Cooper.

As he testified, much of what’s being reported in the media is “not accurate.”

Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Sweet served 30 years as a military intelligence officer. Mark Toth writes on national security and foreign policy.