Blackout Iran

When the Trump administration launched a major attack on Iran, news organizations had to navigate a shaky environment for communications—and moral clarity.

At 2:30am ET on Saturday, Donald Trump posted a video on Truth Social—the social media platform he owns and uses for fleeting thoughts, administration propaganda, and policy announcements—in which he said that “major combat operations” were underway in Iran. About fifty minutes earlier, Reuters and the Associated Press had reported on witnesses in Tehran, the capital, hearing explosions and seeing thick smoke rise into the sky. Residents were described as running in the streets in panic. For about half an hour, reports circulated that Israel was attacking Iran, until the New York Times clarified that the US was also involved, citing a US official. In his Truth Social video confirming the Times’ reporting shortly afterward, Trump—whose white “USA” baseball cap and open collar seemed to perfectly capture his swaggering sense of impunity—urged Iranians to rise up and “take over your government, it will be yours to take.”