Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo said she doesn’t “understand” Iran’s military capabilities after President Donald Trump claimed obliteration.
During the July 19 episode of “Sunday Morning Futures,” Bartiromo spoke with Victoria Coates, vice president of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation.
“CENTCOM says there will be outsized action in retaliation. But I don’t understand how it’s possible that Iran has the capabilities to fight this way and continue to try to lash out at Gulf countries and U.S. military bases,” Bartiromo pointed out. “Because the U.S. has obliterated Iran’s military, and the president continued to reiterate that.”
To that, Coates explained, “Yes. And if you look at the numbers of missiles that they’ve been able to fire off from the beginning of this war — late February-early March — and what they’re able to do now, it is very seriously degraded. They’ve gone from over 100 a day to less than 10, if even that.”
Coates continued, “There have been a number of days where they haven’t fired off anything, and they haven’t targeted Israel for months now. So I think their capabilities are lessened, but they’re not zero, and that’s the important thing.”
In the comments, X users shared their take on the discrepancies between Trump’s messaging and what is happening amid the continued war in Iran. One declared, “Because he’s LYING, dingus!! Just stop!! It’s so old and tired.”
Another shared, “Believing Trump is YOUR MISTAKE. HE LIES CONTINUOUSLY. He said Iran’s military was obliterated. LIE. We won the war. LIE. Everything out of his mouth, LIES. NOW, after golfing yesterday, he is attending the World Cup, while servicemen are being killed. Disgraceful.”
Someone else echoed, “They are finally catching on to his lies!!!”
A different X user commented, “The President says one thing. The evidence provided by your own senses says something else. Fox News: I’m not sure what to believe here.”
Meanwhile, yet another viewer pointed out, “Because Maria, and I’ll say it slowly for you…. He. Is. Lying. Again.”
Bartiromo’s remarks came one day after U.S. Central Command announced that two military service members were killed in action while defending against “Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks.” One service member was also missing in action following Friday’s attack, with four others having been medically evacuated to hospitals.
In response to the deaths, Trump told NewsNation, “It’s a very sad thing. We hate to see it happen.”
He added, “It’s in service to our country… we’re never going to allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
