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Here are all the people who have been on weekday cable news to talk about Iran

  • On January 2, President Donald Trump ordered an airstrike killing Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who commanded Iran’s Quds Force, a branch of the nation’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Following the strike, coverage of Iran dominated cable news as tensions between the two countries escalated, resulting in Iran launching a missile attack on military bases housing U.S. and coalition troops and accidentally downing a Ukrainian passenger plane.

    The overall most frequent guests on cable news were: 

    Ayman Mohyeldin -- 13 appearances (MSNBC)
    Barry McCaffrey -- 11 appearances (MSNBC)
    Ben Rhodes -- 11 appearances (MSNBC)
    Brett McGurk -- 11 appearances (MSNBC)
    Sen. Bob Menendez -- 10 appearances (5 CNN, 5 MSNBC)
    Jack Keane -- 10 appearances (Fox News)
    Cedric Leighton -- 9 appearances (CNN)
    Sen. Chris Murphy -- 9 appearances (4 CNN, 5 MSNBC)
    Rep. Dan Crenshaw -- 9 appearances (1 CNN, 5 Fox News, 3 MSNBC)
    Daniel Hoffman -- 9 appearances (Fox News)
    James Stavridis -- 9 appearances (1 CNN, 8 MSNBC)
    Max Boot -- 9 appearances (CNN)
    Peter Baker -- 9 appearances (MSNBC)
    Walid Phares - 9 appearances (Fox News)

    Top Fox News guests

    Jack Keane -- 10 appearances    
    Daniel Hoffman -- 9 appearances        
    Walid Phares -- 9 appearances        
    Dan Bongino -- 8 appearances        
    Johnny Joey Jones -- 8 appearances        
    Rep. Michael Waltz -- 7 appearances        
    Marc Thiessen -- 6 appearances        
    Pete Hegseth -- 6 appearances        
    Rep. Dan Crenshaw -- 5 appearances        
    Bret Baier -- 5 appearances        

    Top CNN guests

    Cedric Leighton -- 9 appearances
    Max Boot -- 9 appearances
    James Marks -- 8 appearances
    John Kirby -- 8 appearances
    Mark Hertling -- 8 appearances
    Dana Bash -- 7 appearances
    Philip Mudd -- 7 appearances
    Susan Hennessey -- 7 appearances
    David Sanger -- 6 appearances
    Gloria Borger -- 6 appearances

    Top MSNBC guests

    Ayman Mohyeldin -- 13 appearances    
    Barry McCaffrey -- 11 appearances     
    Ben Rhodes -- 11 appearances    
    Brett McGurk -- 11 appearances    
    Peter Baker -- 9 appearances    
    James Stavridis -- 8 appearances    
    Christopher Hill -- 8 appearances    
    Jonathan Lemire -- 8 appearances    
    Ned Price -- 6 appearances    
    Richard Stengel -- 6 appearances       

    Here is a complete list of guests CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News have brought on to discuss Iran in the wake of the January 2 attack. 

    Media Matters’ internal database includes weekday cable news programming on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC between the hours of 6 a.m. and midnight. Segments are coded in near-real time by analysts for pertinent information. We searched our database for guest segments from on or after January 2 that included “Iran,” “Soleimani,” or “Flight 752” in the segment notes.