Kaitlan Collins Corners Trump on New Attacks

Politics admin July 14, 2026 0 Comments

CNN anchor Kaitlin Collins cornered Donald Trump on America’s latest round of attacks in his months-long war against Iran.

Despite previously agreeing to a tentative ceasefire, bringing an end to months of strikes across the region, the U.S. and Iran have been exchanging fire for days as both Washington and Tehran insist they alone control the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking to the president in the Oval Office on Monday, Collins asked the president if this was now “the new normal.”

“You noted the United States is bombing Iran again; you’ve been bombing Iran for months now. Is this just the new normal for the American people?” Collins asked Trump.

“We were in Vietnam for 19 years, we’re here for four months, so I think we’ve done a lot,” the president replied, before detailing the destruction U.S. strikes have wrought in Iran, including decimating the country’s navy and air force as well as its missile and drone capabilities.

Despite the fact that negotiations ultimately failed as conflict resumed, Trump went on to praise his own negotiation skills while taking a swipe at his predecessors who failed to make any deals with Iran.

“Nobody negotiated like I do. This should have been done by Bush, and Obama, and Biden, and people before them, frankly. 47 years they’ve been ripping off everybody and really hurting, killing thousands of people,” he continued, before launching into a rant about Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian military officer who was assassinated by U.S. forces in 2020.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal, was finalized under President Barack Obama between Iran, the U.S., France, Russia, China, the U.K., Germany, and the European Union and required Iran to significantly constrain its nuclear program.

Trump has consistently battled with Collins during press conferences, routinely denouncing her for being part of the “fake news media,” describing her as “the worst reporter,” and criticizing her for rarely smiling.

Several minutes into his response, as he was discussing the vast number of Iranian leaders killed in the strikes, Trump took aim at Collins’ network.

“And then you read fake news like your network, CNN, which is fake news, you have them say, ‘Well actually, aren’t they doing quite well?’” Trump said, referring to Iran.

He continued, “Let me just say it: they have now inflation of over 300 percent. Four months ago, they had inflation of 5 percent… They made a deal, they broke it, probably ten times.”

“We have them in a position that they don’t have any military, there’s not a thing they can do about it. All they have is fake news, because the fake news would rather see us lose the war than win the war, which is really treasonous in a certain way.”

Collins did not respond to Trump, and continued on.

The U.S. and Iran renewed hostilities on Saturday after Iran attacked a container ship, according to CENTCOM. In response, the U.S. military said that it carried out 140 strikes that same day, as well as a smaller number of strikes on Sunday.

Both countries are insisting that they control the vital Strait of Hormuz, with Trump even insisting that he was “going to get paid for guarding” the strait.

Asked by Collins who would be reimbursing the U.S., Trump doubled down on his demand for reimbursement from the countries benefitting from the protection, including Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE.

“I wanna be reimbursed, because we’re protecting a very rich portion of the world, we’re spending money, and so what we’ve done is we’re going to be reimbursed for protection,” the president replied.

Trump is demanding a 20 percent reimbursement fee on all cargo shipped through the strait after dubbing the U.S. the waterway’s “guardian” in a Monday Truth Social post.

“The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as ‘THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,’ but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World,” he wrote.

U.S. forces are expected to resume their blockade of the strait on Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET, according to a statement posted by CENTCOM. CENTCOM later announced that it had initiated a third consecutive night of strikes on Iran at Trump’s behest.

“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the statement read.