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CNN’s Christiane Amanpour was slammed after her inconceivable insistence that Iran doesn’t want to “escalate” the conflict with Israel.

Even as she gave her analysis to CNN anchor Dana Bash, Iran rained down ballistic missiles on Israel Tuesday as CNN’s own correspondents reported on the events. Indeed, moments before Amanpour joined the broadcast, CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto scrambled to abandon his position on a Tel Aviv rooftop as missiles rained down.

“It’s incredibly important to be absolutely precise about what’s going on. So far, there is no evidence that anything has landed, that it is being intercepted according to our correspondents on the ground,” Amanpour told Bash.

(Video Credit: CNN)

“And also, the United States and Israel said that that they assessed that the targets would be three Israeli air bases, and an intelligence base, again as our correspondents have said, that’s very important to keep in mind,” the British-Iranian journalist continued.

“As for Iran and now the Lebanese prime minister is very concerned that there will somehow be an attempt, whether it is to come to the rescue of Israel or whether Israel tries to get the U.S. in, but that the U.S. may end up joining this escalation in the Middle East — the foreign minister said that,” Amanpour said, laying out Iran’s view of things and claims of not wanting to escalate anything.

“The Iranian foreign minister told me in New York during the United Nations that they were showing and this is again before Friday’s assassination, that they were showing restraint and that Hezbollah was showing restraint as well, and that it wanted, you know, to de-escalate all of this. That was the word also from the podium at the United Nations by the Iranian president,” she continued.

Amanpour went on to say the “response from Iran is more likely because it feels it has been left no choice” after the “assassination of their client, Hassan Nasrallah,” referring to the Hezbollah leader who was killed in an airstrike in Lebanon last week.

“Nobody, nobody, not the Lebanese nor the Iranians want this to escalate even further. Iran does not want an Israeli or a U.S. war against it. It is unlikely to be able to resist that, it does not want it. So we are going to see whether this is targeted and how much actual damage beyond what Israel believes other targets, is actually done. And I think that is what’s going to determine potentially the next steps like it did last time,” Amanpour insisted.

To her credit, Bash informed Amanpour that Sciutto “was reporting that he saw with his own eyes some actual missiles hitting the ground and hitting targets,” and added that CNN teams in Israel and Jerusalem “have counted dozens of missiles flying above them. Several have been intercepted.”

In a White House briefing on Tuesday, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called the attack “a significant escalation by Iran, a significant event.”

Amanpour’s take on the unfolding events was slammed by viewers who called her out for being a “propagandist” for Iran.

Frieda Powers
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