President Donald Trump is pushing back hard against media reports claiming Iranian missiles damaged American military aircraft stationed in Jordan, calling the allegations completely false during a televised interview this week.
“No truth,” Trump told NewsNation’s Robert Sherman when asked about reports that U.S. warplanes sustained damage in the recent Iranian attack. Pressed for confirmation, the president doubled down: “None whatsoever. No damage. No nothing.”
The commander-in-chief’s firm denial comes as several mainstream outlets, relying heavily on anonymous sources, have painted a different picture of what happened at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.
CBS News reported that one A-10 Thunderbolt, the rugged ground-attack aircraft nicknamed the Warthog, lost an entire wing in the strike. The outlet also claimed roughly eight F-15 fighter jets sustained light damage but were quickly returned to service. CBS noted that no American deaths occurred during the attack.
Other news organizations published similar accounts, all citing unnamed sources.
The conflicting narratives highlight the fog of war surrounding the ongoing tensions between the United States and Iran. Jordan has maintained that almost all incoming Iranian missiles were intercepted and destroyed, according to media reports. A U.S. official reportedly described the attacks as ineffective.
The Iranian strikes came in response to American military action earlier in the week. On Tuesday, U.S. Central Command announced that American forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Gulf. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps then claimed responsibility for launching retaliatory attacks targeting eight tankers, two American warships, and the base in Jordan, according to CBS.
If President Trump’s account is accurate, Iran’s much-publicized retaliation amounted to little more than a propaganda exercise, with missiles either intercepted by defense systems or failing to cause meaningful damage to American forces.
CENTCOM has not issued a detailed public statement confirming or denying the specific damage claims made by anonymous sources to various outlets. The reliance on unnamed officials in reporting on sensitive military matters has become a recurring point of frustration for the administration and its supporters.
