President Donald Trump watches a daily video briefing about the war in Iran curated by U.S. military officials, who show him a reel of “stuff blowing up,” fueling concerns that he “may not be receiving or absorbing” the full picture of the conflict, according to a report.
The joint U.S.-Israeli military operation is now in its fourth week and Trump has seen his approval rating plummet to a new low amid soaring gas prices.
Trump has been shown a highlight reel, approximately 2 minutes long but sometimes more, every day since the bombing campaign began on February 28, depicting U.S. Central Command striking Iranian equipment and military targets, NBC News reports, citing U.S. officials.
While the president also receives updates from top military and intelligence advisers, the highlight reel has prompted concern among officials and Trump’s allies that he is not receiving “a full scope” of information, according to NBC News.
The video “doesn’t reflect the full scope of the conflict,” the current and former U.S. officials told the outlet, who added that Trump can’t be briefed on every strike given how many there are per day.
Officials reportedly said that the updates Trump receives “tends to emphasize U.S. successes, with comparatively little detail about Iranian actions.”
One official gave the example of when five U.S. Air Force refueling planes were hit by Iranian missiles earlier this month at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, which Trump only learned about from media reports, according to NBC News.
The president reportedly “reacted angrily” to news coverage of the incident, and called coverage of the strike misleading in a Truth Social post.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied the assertion that Trump doesn’t receive a full range of information about the war.
“That’s an absolutely false assertion coming from someone who has not been present in the room,” Leavitt said in a statement to NBC News. “Anyone who has been present for conversations with President Trump knows he actively seeks and solicits the opinions of everyone in the room and expects full throated honesty from all of his top advisors.”
Sean Parnell, chief Defense Department spokesperson, touted the success of the military operation in a statement.
“Operation Epic Fury has been an overwhelming success, with our forces executing the mission with unmatched precision and achieving every objective set out from the beginning,” Parnell said. “Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is in constant communication with President Trump regarding every aspect of Operation Epic Fury. We are proud of the exceptional performance by our warfighters and remain fully confident in the commander-in-chief’s decisions.”
The scenes Trump watches in the curated video are reportedly behind his frustration with news coverage of the war. The president has claimed that media outlets want the U.S. to “lose the War,” and has frequently lashed out at news organizations for scrutinizing the conflict.
Leavitt also hit out at media outlets for their “overwhelming negative and biased coverage” of the war.
“The media spends more time using fake anonymous sources to sow chaos than focus on the successes and victories of our great United States military against the Iranian regime,” she said in a statement.
The Trump administration has reportedly offered Iran a 15-point plan to end the war for good, but Iran’s military said the countries were not in negotiations to end the conflict.
It comes as the U.S. military is preparing to deploy at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East in the coming days, according to the Associated Press.
