Trump FCC chief threatens broadcasters’ licenses over Iran war coverage

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr speaks during the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 2025 Global Aerospace Summit in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 9, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon

Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, on Saturday appeared to threaten the licenses of broadcasters reporting on President Donald Trump’s war in Iran after the president crafted a lengthy Truth Social post against the “Fake News Media.”

Trump, in a post on Saturday, took exception to an “intentionally misleading headline by the Fake News Media about” five tanker planes that were hit in an Iranian strike on Saudi Arabia.

The Wall Street Journal reported the story Saturday, citing two U.S. officials.

“The tankers were hit during an Iranian missile strike on the Saudi base in recent days, the officials said,” the Journal reports. “U.S. Central Command declined to comment. The tankers were damaged but not fully destroyed and are being repaired, one of the officials said. No one was killed in the strikes.”

Trump, in his post, argued “the planes were not ‘struck or ‘destroyed,’” and called out “The Wall Street Journal (in particular)” who he claims “actually want use to lose the war.”

The Journal's report included Trump’s Saturday Truth Social post.

In response to the president’s rant, Carr issued a lengthy post on X accusing broadcasters of “running hoaxes and news distortions — also known as the fake news.”

“The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not,” Carr wrote, arguing it was “in their own business interests” to “correct course” on their reporting.

“The American people have subsidized broadcasters to the tune of billions of dollars by providing free access to the nation’s airwaves,” Carr claimed. “It is very important to bring trust back into media, which has earned itself the label of fake news.”

Journalists and media observers noted Carr's post seemed to threaten news organizations that report stories the White House would rather not be reported.

“The state doesn't like the war coverage, threatens the license of the broadcasters,” the Bulwark’s Sam Stein noted.

“The Trump administration is now threatening the licenses of broadcasters whose news coverage — apparently about the war — it deems to be ‘fake,’” CNN’s Aaron Blake wrote.

It wasn’t the only media criticism Trump engaged in on Saturday. In a separate Truth Social post, the president shared an image of how he’s “reshaping the media” including a section of media companies and individual people who are now “gone.”

One of the people mentioned in that Trump post, former CNN host Jim Acosta, said he’s “honored to be included” in the graphic.

“But seriously what’s wrong with this guy?” Acosta asked. “This is some goofy stuff.”

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