Did CNN rely on an unnamed "fake news site from Nigeria" to report on Iran's ceasefire statements on April 7, 2026, as U.S. President Donald Trump claimed? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no evidence that CNN relied on a Nigerian website. The initial CNN report said that the statement attributed directly to the Supreme National Security Council was shared by Iranian news sites, and Lead Stories confirmed that it was published by that country's state and semi-government media. The statement was different from the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs remarks that Trump shared.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on Truth Social on April 7, 2026. It read:
The alleged Statement put out by CNN World News is a FRAUD, as CNN well knows. The false Statement was linked to a Fake News site (from Nigeria) and, of course, immediately picked up by CNN, and blared out as a 'legitimate' headline. The Official Statement by Iran was just released, and posted on TRUTH, below. Authorities are looking to determine whether or not a crime was committed on the issuance of the Fake CNN World Statement, or was it a sick rogue player? CNN is being ordered to immediately withdraw this Statement with full apologies for their, as usual, terrible 'reporting.' Results of the investigation will be announced in the near future. President DONALD J. TRUMP.
This is what the post looked like on Truth Social at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @realDonaldTrump on Truth Social.)
What Trump posted earlier that day under the caption "OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF IRAN" read (archived here):
TEHRAN-7 APRIL 2026
On behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran, I express gratitude and appreciation for my dear brothers HE Prime Minister of Pakistan Sharif and HE Field Marshal Munir for their tireless efforts to end the war in the region.
In response to the brotherly request of PM Sharif in his tweet, and considering the request by the U.S. for negotiations based on its 15-point proposal as well as announcement by POTUS about acceptance of the general framework of Iran's 10-point proposal as a basis for negotiations, I hereby declare on behalf of Iran's Supreme National Security Council:
If attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations.
For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran's Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations.
Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Minister of Foreign Affairs Islamic Republic of Iran.
The same statement appeared on the website of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (archived here) under the caption explicitly saying that it was made "on behalf of the Supreme National Security Council," the main body overseeing Iran's national security, thus implying that it expressed Iran's consolidated position -- not only the words of the country's diplomats.
On April 7, 2026, CNN published a report (archived here) about a different statement attributed to the Supreme National Security Council. That story's headline read:
Iran claims victory, says it forced US to accept 10-point plan.
While no link to a specific source was available, the first paragraph of the story clearly spelled out where the cited statement came from:
Iran says it has achieved a great victory and forced the United States to accept in principle its 10-point plan, according to a statement from Iran's Supreme National Security Council reported by Iranian state media.
Contrary to the president's comments, the statement summarized by CNN was available on Iran's government and semi-government media websites, including Press TV (archived here) and Tasnim News (archived here). In part, the statement read:
Iran has achieved a great victory and forced the criminal United States to accept its ten-point plan. In this plan, the United States has, in principle, committed to non-aggression; the continuation of Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz; acceptance of enrichment; the lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions; the termination of all United Nations Security Council and Board of Governors resolutions; compensation to Iran; the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from the region; and the cessation of war on all fronts, including against the heroic Islamic resistance in Lebanon.
Later, CNN expanded its coverage to include both statements in one report (archived here).
The initial report was not deleted, a CNN spokesperson told Lead Stories via email on April 8, 2026:
This was published on our live story, which updates throughout a live event with new information, which may be the issue for the search result traffic.
The statement in question was obtained by CNN from Iranian officials and reported on multiple Iranian state media outlets. We received the statement from specific official Iranian spokespeople who are known to us.
On that day, CNN's senior international correspondent Matthew Chance discussed (archived here) Trump's claim on live TV with Anderson Cooper. Chance said (archived here):
When President Trump posted on Truth Social that he objected to that report, to that document, he said it was fake. I followed up with the Iranian foreign ministry and said, 'Look, do you have this document that you can send to me?' And they sent me the document themselves, which is exactly the same as the document we originally had. And so I think we're pretty confident, very confident that this document is authentic.
Lead Stories reached out to the White House to ask what Nigerian website the president referred to, but had not received a response by publication time.
When Lead Stories used Google's advanced search option to search for the precise language of the Supreme National Security Council's statement cited by CNN across Nigerian websites, it showed no exact matches (archived here) published on the day Trump made the claim reviewed in this fact check.
