White House accuses mainstream media of 'parroting' Iranian regime propaganda on nuclear deal terms
EXCLUSIVE: The White House slammed the "mainstream media" for citing Iranian state media reports that Tehran has no intention of honoring the nuclear inspection commitments that Vice President JD Vance says were agreed upon.
Iran has agreed to "robust" inspections of its nuclear sites following the peace talks in Switzerland, according to a U.S. official. A White House official spoke to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, calling the sourcing for widespread reports from mainstream media outlets "propaganda from the Iranian regime."
"For the tireless scolding we hear from the mainstream media about their 'journalistic ethics' and 'integrity of their reporting,' you’d think they would view the misinformation flowing from Iranian state media with a high level of skepticism," a White House official told Fox News Digital.
"Instead, the American press has spent every waking hour of this negotiating process mindlessly parroting hardliner propaganda from the Iranian regime," the official added. "The President and Vice President of the United States, along with the entire U.S. negotiating team, are working around the clock to secure a great deal for the American people, and the updates they’ve provided on this process have been the truth."
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Critics cited Iranian state media’s reporting that nuclear inspections would not be honored, despite Vance and the White House saying that the terms of the deal included the provision.
"Despite their protestations and false statements to the contrary, coupled with the drumbeat of the Fake News, which is doing everything possible to make the U.S. Victory as small and insignificant as possible, Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!)," President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post.
A source familiar with the talks expressed frustration to Fox News Digital over the irony of pundits speaking out against the deal for using talking points from Iranian public figures and state media, likening dialogue and reporting to an unwitting support for the Iranian regime.
A number of reports from mainstream outlets this week cited information surrounding Vance allegedly being snubbed by the Qataris after Qatar's prime minister and chief negotiator, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, walked past Vance and warmly greeted Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instead.
In an interview on Monday with Qatar-funded media outlet, Al Jazeera, Al Thani denied snubbing Vance, saying he had just spent hours with Vance and hadn’t yet greeted Sharif. He blamed the media for misrepresenting the encounter. "And they just made the issue too big," he said.
A U.S. official told Fox News Digital the U.S. team had already been meeting with Qatari officials for hours, eliminating the need for a ceremonial greeting. The official added that the leaders' joint remarks before the meeting were organized impromptu rather than as a staged public appearance.
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Some reports also said the Iranians walked away from the negotiating table while Vance and the White House delegation were still in Switzerland. The reports mainly cited Iranian state media as a source.
Vance said that there were threats to walk out, but denied the reports and allegations that the Iranians walked away from the table when speaking to the press on Tuesday.
"They didn't walk out, and their technical team is still here in Bürgenstock, working with our technical team," Vance said. "When they make threats that aren't rooted in reality, they have to accept that the President of the United States is actually going to set the record straight. That's all that happened. So, yes, there was a little bit of threatening, there was a little bit of whining, but at the end of the day, the talks continued, and we made great progress."
During a news conference on Tuesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran will never negotiate its missile defense capabilities with any nation and stated that Iran believes "regional peace and stability can only be achieved through honest dialogue and intra-regional cooperation."
President Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he expects nuclear inspections to occur "at the appropriate time."