Screenshots from Fox News coverage of Iran in June 2025

Research/Study Research/Study

Fox News encouraged the US to directly attack inside Iran — and then praised Trump when he listened

Written by Helena Hind, Jane Lee, Alicia Sadowski & Isabella Corrao

Published

Fox News spent the week following Israel’s June 12 attack on Iran demanding that President Donald Trump join the war while fearmongering about the threat Iran poses to the U.S. On June 17, The New York Times reported that Trump had changed his mind about U.S. involvement after watching Fox News “broadcasting wall-to-wall imagery of what it was portraying as Israel’s military genius.” 

After the U.S. bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 21, Fox lavished praise on Trump's supposed foreign policy acumen despite independent experts pushing back on the purported success of the operation. The network’s celebration continued after Trump announced “complete and total ceasefire” between Iran and Israel on June 23. Fox personalities and guests have characterized Trump as a peacemaker who should receive a Nobel Prize, defended his skirting of congressional approval for the strikes, and suggested an opportunity for “regime change” in Iran.

Jump to section

  • Before the attack, Fox News fearmongered that Iran’s nuclear and offensive capabilities posed an “imminent” threat

    • Fox host Jesse Watters interviewed Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Doron Spielman, who said that “the assumption is that Iran is incredibly close to having 15 nuclear warheads.” Spielman added, “We don't want to have another Holocaust on our hands — that is why, now that we have the ability, we carried out this preemptive strike.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 6/12/25]
    • Fox News host Sean Hannity argued that Iran is now “close to a nuclear weapon. I don’t see that Israel had any choice here tonight but to go at those nuclear facilities.” Fox contributor and former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed, “The time was running out. A nuclear conflict in the region would have been devastating not only for the Israelis but for American interests, for the gulf Arab states as well.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/12/25]
    • On Fox & Friends, Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said that it was “a matter of days” before Iran would have “nuclear capabilities.” He continued, “They had a mass production of ballistic missiles. They wanted to be at the same level of the U.S. and Russia in terms of the number of ballistic missiles, to produce every month hundreds of missiles and to threaten Israel with the mega power of ballistic missiles.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/13/25] 
    • Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt: “They call us the big Satan. Israel is the little Satan.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/13/25] 
    • Earhardt also said Israel would not “have attacked [Iran] unless they knew this was imminent, that a nuclear weapon was coming.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/13/25] 
    • Fox host Mark Levin said that “you cannot have a death cult with nuclear weapons building intercontinental ballistic missiles, saying, ‘Death to America.’” He continued, “We can’t stand for it, the Israelis can’t stand for it, anybody with two brain cells to rub together can’t stand for this.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/13/25] 
    • Fox contributor Pompeo claimed Iran had “little terror cells” in America and other countries. Pompeo: “It’s not just the missiles or drones they’ll fly to Israel, but the Iranian IRGC — the very leadership the Israelis destroyed last night — has been working in nearly every country around the world, including the United States of America, to plant little terror cells all across the world.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 6/13/25]
    • On Fox News, podcast host Jillian Michaels called Iran a “clear threat” to America and argued that it is not “Israel’s war.” Michaels said, “I don't think this is someone else's war or Israel's war as far as I can tell. So I think that Trump gave them numerous off-ramps, and they did not take it. I think this is a clear threat to America. I don’t think this is someone else’s war. And again, I come back to — I don't see the alternative, personally.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 6/13/25]
    • Fox News guest former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman warned that Iran having access to nuclear weapons is “a threat that impacts America as well.” He said that “it's only 10 minutes by hypersonic missile from Iran to the United States,” and stated, “What happened last night was Israel was actually fighting a war on behalf of America, and they did so successfully. And Americans as well as Israelis are safer this morning.” [Fox News, America Reports, 6/13/25] 
    • Hannity defended the attack on Iran: “How many missiles would it take from a foreign country and their proxies that would be fired into the USA, into our country, killing American citizens, terrorizing American citizens, before you would want that country stopped?” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/13/25] 
    • Levin said that “force” is the “only thing to stop” Iran. He added, “The elimination of that regime, it’s the only thing to stop them.” [Fox News, Life, Liberty, & Levin, 6/15/25]
    • Fox News guest Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) argued against a ceasefire: “If you had a ceasefire with Fordo intact, with Iran's ability to enrich uranium intact — yes, that would be an inconclusive outcome that would continue to threaten the United States and our friends in the region.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 6/16/25]
    • Outnumbered guest and Hudson Institute media fellow Jeremy Hunt praised Israel’s attacks: “For Israel to be in a position where they’re weakening that regime, this is a good day for America.” He said, “They chant, ‘Death to America.’ They’ve had, apparently, assassination attempts on President Trump’s life.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 6/16/25]
    • Fox News contributor Lisa Kennedy Montgomery said, “Iran wants to do what Hitler started with one bomb.” [Fox News, The Five, 6/16/25]
    • Hannity claimed that “in about a month, a nuclear holocaust would’ve been a real possibility” if Israel hadn’t attacked Iran. He said, “That is not a risk that any country should ever have to face.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/16/25]
    • Fox News guest Julian Epstein claimed, “If Iran in fact gets a nuclear weapon … they are 10 minutes away from striking the United States with an ICBM.” Epstein added, “They could not only use that to threaten the United States, they could use a nuclear weapon to threaten the Middle East. … They could use it to threaten to exterminate Israel — they probably would use it.” [Fox News, Fox News @ Night, 6/16/25]
    • Discussing potential Iranian reprisals, Earhardt asked, “What about terror cells that are here that came in through open borders under Joe Biden?” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/17/25]
    • Fox News contributor Hugh Hewitt claimed, “The Middle East is not going to be safe and America is not going to be safe until Fordo is destroyed.” Hewitt explained, “As long as Fordo remains operating and potentially turned back on, the nuclear program is still alive and Iran can rush to a nuke, and I think everybody in the Trump White House, certainly President Trump, understands that.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 6/17/25]
    • Fox News anchor John Roberts: “This is a regime that has been chanting ‘Death to America’ for 45 years. If it gets its hands on nuclear weapons, the threat to the homeland and to American interests in the region would seem to be very clear.” Roberts mused, “Why does there even need to be debate here?” [Fox News, America Reports, 6/17/25]
    • Fox News guest Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said, “I can guarantee you that if the ayatollah gets a nuclear weapon, he will use it. I believe that with all my heart and soul.” Graham continued: “You want to avoid World War III? Learn the lessons from World War II. People in World War II appeased Hitler to the point that it got so much out of hand, we had a world war and 60 million people got killed. So we live in a world where you pay now or you pay later. Let's stop this threat before he gets a nuclear weapon. Let's end this reign of terror. Let's do it now.” [Fox News, America Reports, 6/17/25]
    • Fox News contributor Harold Ford Jr. warned, “If we don't act and they develop the nuclear weapon, I'm fairly confident” that Iran will “follow through on their ‘death to America and death to Israel.’” Ford continued, “This is about U.S. interest at stake. This is about your kids and my kids and hopefully grandkids one day not living in a world where the Iranians have a nuclear weapon.” [Fox News, Special Report with Bret Baier, 6/17/25]
    • Fox host Brian Kilmeade claimed that “Iran has directly killed 603 Americans” and asked, “How many more signals do we need to get before we realize they are our enemy and they are our problem, too?” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 6/17/25] 
    • On Jesse Watters Primetime, former Pentagon official Alex Plitsas speculated on Iran’s response to U.S. bombing: “You don't know what else they have at this point, you know, whether it’s sleeper cells, if they decide to turn to transnational terrorism. In the immediate aftermath, it would be likely targeting of U.S. bases in the region.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 6/17/25] 
    • Hannity said Iran is “the No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism that has threatened to wipe Israel and the United States off the map repeatedly.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/17/25]
    • Hannity: “President Trump has a decision to make. Will he deliver the final blow to Iran's nuclear program? Will he rid the world of this clear and present danger and this existential threat? Will he end Iran’s threat of nuclear terror once and for all and make the world a safer place for generations to come?” He later elaborated: “The unofficial motto of Iran: ‘Death to Israel, death to America.’ … There is a new threat issued almost every day. Do you really want a country like that in possession of a nuclear weapon, or would the world be wise and smart, and would we be applying common sense, by taking this threat out while we own the skies over the entire country of Iran?” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/17/25]
    • On Hannity, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) suggested that Iran is developing ICBMs to “get to America.” He concluded, “If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, I think the odds are unacceptably high that we would find out with a mushroom cloud over New York City or Los Angeles.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/17/25]
    • On Hannity, Levin said: “I'm a warmonger because I think that these seventh century primitive barbarians with 21st century technology should be removed so that we could protect our country, our families, our children? If this is not a reason to defend ourselves, then give me one.” He claimed Trump is “going to make sure this generation and future generations are protected from nuclear missiles coming out of the Middle East from barbarian primitives from the seventh century.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/17/25]
    • On Hannity, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said “the rest of the world will be facing” missiles fired into towns and cities “if Iran continues its reign of terror.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/17/25]
    • Kilmeade: “They chant ‘Death to America,’ not because it's a catchphrase they can sell t-shirts for — they believe it.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/18/25]
    • On America’s Newsroom, former George W. Bush foreign policy adviser Dan Senor said: “Never forget that Iran has been a threat to the United States and the West for decades.” He added, “They run rabid all over the world threatening American interests. So this is the best shot President Trump has since the revolution in 1979 to put the Iranian threat away. He would be the president that makes this thing go away. If he did, the man would deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 6/18/25]
    • House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told America’s Newsroom that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was “on the wrong side of this” for opposing U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict. Johnson said that “Iran was very close to nuclear capability,” and “they would use it against Israel immediately and they would use it against the U.S. if they could, so it had to be stopped.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 6/18/25]
    • On The Faulkner Focus, former Army special operations soldier Brett Velicovich said: “This whole debate about if it drags us into this larger war or not — listen, Iran already sees us as complicit. No matter what we do or don't do now, they will attempt to target U.S. interests in the future, whether U.S. assets strike them now or not. That’s the bottom line. They've been at war with us for decades.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 6/18/25] 
    • Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) told America Reports: “Not only has Iran thwarted any attempt to oversee their nuclear program, but they’ve also continued to develop ballistic missiles — missiles that will reach the United States of America. Pair that with nuclear capabilities, and then the Iranians’ wish of ‘death to America’ could come true." [Fox News, America Reports, 6/18/25]
    • Watters: “With the streets teetering and its military commanders assassinated, a nuke might be the ayatollah's only hope.” “He continued, “No one really knows how fast they could spin up a device and strap it into a warhead, but Trump says they’re only a few weeks away.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 6/18/25]
    • Fox News host and former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany predicted that the president will eliminate Iran’s nuclear program because the ayatollah “does not care” about mutually assured destruction: “When you combine fanaticism, no care for self-preservation, and a radical religious belief with nuclear weapons, that is a danger.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 6/18/25]
    • Hannity: “The threat of a nuclear-armed Iran is a clear and present danger, an existential threat to the entire world.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/18/25] 

  • After Trump ordered US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, Fox News defended and praised the attack — and warned of retaliation

    • On Fox & Friends, former B-2 stealth bomber pilot and retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Steven Basham called the attack “flawless” and said its success was “miraculous.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/23/25] 
    • Former State Department deputy special envoy Ellie Cohanim told America Reports that “the United States, Israel, the Middle East, and truly the entire world is safer than we were just a week ago.” She claimed that “President Trump’s historic attack” took “away that radical regime’s nuclear program” and said that “he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for it.” [Fox News, America Reports, 6/23/25]
    • McEnany: “I just want to say, lastly, just how wrong everyone has been on President Trump. … You've got the entire Middle East, it seems, set up in a posture where we may see more Middle East peace accords. So rather than World War III, we may get more peace.” [Fox News, The Five, 6/23/25]
    • Kilmeade justified Trump’s attack by claiming Iran has “never been forced to pay for” U.S. casualties in Iraq that were “directly linked to Iran” and suggested “that maybe the payback begins.” Kilmeade added, “I don't think that's being a war hawk. I think it's defending America.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/23/25]
    • The Five co-host and Marine veteran Johnny “Joey” Jones: “For the pacifists out there, sometimes military action is the prevention of war.” [Fox News, The Five, 6/23/25]
    • MacCallum: “It gets tougher and tougher to imagine what the argument among the Iranian people is for keeping this regime at this point.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 6/23/25]
    • MacCallum asked the Stanford Director of Iranian Studies Abbas Milani if this was “the moment” for “regime change” in Iran. “This is clearly the moment,” Milani responded. “I can't imagine a more opportune moment in the last 46 years.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 6/23/25]
    • Watters dismissed the idea that Trump needed congressional approval to attack Iran: “Why would you have Congress vote on a secret air strike? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. It's a secret strike. You don't let the whole world know you're about to do it by calling a vote.” [Fox News, The Five, 6/23/25]
    • On Fox & Friends, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said Americans “have a right to be concerned” about potential Iranian sleeper cells because “Joe Biden had a wide-open border policy for four years.” Host Brian Kilmeade added: “More stats on the border and why people are concerned about the people that have crossed. In 2021, 48 came across. Then 197, then 462. And then the last year of Joe Biden, 797. So, that's the IED in human beings that the Biden administration left behind.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/23/25] 
    • Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner: “The Trump administration is preparing for possible enemy sleeper cell attacks inside the U.S. after Operation Midnight Hammer in Iran. One part of that concern, we now know 1,504 Iranian illegals who were detained at our southern border during the Biden administration were released — more than half of them released into the U.S.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 6/23/25]
    • Fox host Emily Compagno: Iranian sleeper cells are “waiting simply for the moment of inspiration from Iran.” McEnany added: “Biden’s first year, 48 Iranian nationals found at the southern border. It goes up to 197, and then 462. And by his last year, 797. You think as you’re sitting in the beach chair of Delaware, you’d notice an alarming trend of Iranian nationals crossing the border. These are special interest aliens, meaning they should be subject to extra scrutiny. It appears they got none.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 6/23/25]
    • On The Will Cain Show, Stratfor chief security officer Fred Burton argued that the threat of Iranian sleeper cells in the U.S. was “certainly concerning” because “the Iranians can create passports and they can identity documents,” which is “part of the game when it comes to how they go about infiltrating personnel to carry out operations.” [Fox News, The Will Cain Show, 6/23/25]
    • Jones claimed that “Border Patrol nabbed over 1,500 Iranians crossing illegally since 2021, with nearly half released into U.S. cities.” Co-host Jesse Watters went on to blame Biden for a potential terrorist attack: “Imagine you have a country which is in the axis of evil, and guys are coming over and he's catching and releasing them into the country. These are sleepy Joe's sleeper cells.” [Fox News, The Five, 6/23/25]

  • After Trump announced Israel and Iran had agreed on a ceasefire, Fox News continued to praise Trump’s foreign policy strategy

    • Fox contributor Mary Katharine Ham praised Trump as “a consequential figure” and said the attack on Iran was “a courageous decision.” Ham concluded, “It was a small window of opportunity to make a really big difference with a really precise strike, and I think it’s impressive.” [Fox News, Special Report with Bret Baier, 6/23/25] 
    • Ingraham declared that Trump “deserves six Nobel Peace Prizes, including for what he did with the Abraham Accords. All the other work he has done toward peace when so many were urging toward protracted military conflict.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 6/23/25]
    • Watters: “The Trump administration appears to have pulled off an incredible operation. … American deterrence is back.” Watters claimed that Trump’s attack in Iran “sends a powerful message to China, Russia, and the cartels, and gives Trump even more power over trade negotiations. Other countries see that Trump is willing to go to the extreme for what he believes.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 6/23/25]
    • Jesse Watters Primetime guest and Medal of Honor recipient David Bellavia: “Maybe it’s time to carve [Theodore] Roosevelt off [Mount] Rushmore and make a big granite hat, because this is one of the most impressive things we’ve seen in 50 years.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 6/23/25] 
    • Talk radio host Buck Sexton claimed that fears of “another Iraq, another Afghanistan” are “greatly overblown,” but “it is perhaps an opening here for the Iranian people to take a look at this kleptocracy and theocracy that has been unfortunately oppressing them for as long as they have and say, ‘This could be an opportunity.’” Sexton continued, “It is up to them if they choose to do something about it, and Trump is just encouraging them with a helpful slogan.” Watters responded, “MIGA [Make Iran Great Again], I guess, is the acronym.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 6/23/25] 
    • Hannity: “In just 12 days, President Trump, in coordination with Israel and our Arab partners, he has totally reshaped the future of the Middle East and the world. The naysayers and the isolationists were dead wrong. World War III is not happening, instead President Trump, he stood up to the worst bully, terrorist nation in the entire world and the planet, and now peace is possible tonight.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/23/25]
    • Hannity denied that Trump acted unconstitutionally by bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities: “The War Powers Act argument is long dead and gone.” He also pointed to Fox News legal analyst Greg Jarrett’s claim that “Trump’s actions were totally legal.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/23/25]
    • On Hannity, Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) declared, “President Trump will win the Nobel Peace Prize, no doubt.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/23/25]
    • Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows said that Democrats “need to get on board and recommend President Trump for a Nobel. Because if this is not worthy, nothing is.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/23/25]

  • Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth criticized Fox’s Jennifer Griffin for reporting on intelligence assessment that Iran’s nuclear program was not destroyed

    • Days after Trump approved strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, CNN and The New York Times reported that the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months, according to a report by the Defense Intelligence Agency. Trump repeatedly condemned the report, attacked the journalists who covered it, and doubled down on claiming the strikes were successful. [The Associated Press, 6/25/25]
    • During a June 26 press conference, former Fox News host turned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly berated Fox chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin after she asked whether all of the enriched uranium at Fordo was destroyed. “Jennifer, you‘ve been about the worst,” Hegseth said. “The one who misrepresents the most intentionally what the president says.” [The Independent, 6/26/25]
    • When Fox & Friends brought Griffin on to discuss the presser, none of her colleagues acknowledged Hegseth’s attack or offered her support. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/26/25]
    • Fox senior political analyst Brit Hume eventually came to Griffin’s defense on America’s Newsroom, calling Hegseth’s attack “unfair.” Hume: “I'd like to say a word if I may, Dana, about Jennifer Griffin, who was attacked by the defense secretary today. An attack she certainly in my view did not deserve. Her professionalism, her knowledge, and her experience at the Pentagon is unmatched, and I have had and still have the greatest regard for her. The attack on her was unfair.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 6/26/25]