Trump Addresses Iran Attacks in Statement
Evan Vucci/AP
We ran the numbers: There are 5066 news articles covering this topic. 47% (2377) are left leaning, 35% (1793) center, 18% (896) right leaning.
On Wednesday, President Trump addressed the country in response to Iran’s retaliatory airstrike against a pair of U.S. military bases in Iraq. In his address, Trump intimated that the U.S. and Iran could be on the path to de-escalation after two weeks of building tension. While left-leaning articles report that Trump is backing away from further military conflict as “Iran appears to be standing down,” right-leaning articles highlight that Trump blamed former President Barack Obama for giving Iran money for their missiles.
A left-leaning article by the New York Times highlights that Trump’s statement for the United States to “embrace peace” came hours after Iran’s government indicated that they had “concluded proportionate measures” in avenging the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassim Soleimani with the launch of their ballistic missiles. However, analysts caution that the conflict could still play out in other ways as Iran has many proxy groups that could stir up trouble. Democrats and even some Republicans expressed discontent with closed-door briefings provided on Wednesday about the supposedly “imminent” threat of attack cited in justifying the drone strike and stated that the presentations were unpersuasive.
A centrist article by The Hill emphasizes that the price of oil went down after President Trump’s Wednesday morning address. West Texas Intermediate, the United States’ oil benchmark, fell more than 4 percent. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones saw an uptick, going up nearly 200 points. According to a senior macro strategist, the movement indicates that investors are betting on de-escalation in the Middle East tensions.
A right-leaning article by Fox News reports that Trump took aim at Obama in his address, blaming the last administration for giving Iran money that he claimed was used by Tehran to pay for the retaliatory airstrike. Trump also pointed the finger at the “Obama-era” Iran nuclear deal, renewing his assertion that it emboldened Tehran instead of keeping Iran from getting access to nuclear weapons.