The U.S. and Israel launched military actions against Iran last weekend, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and leading to multiple strikes involving several Mideast countries over the past few days. Our analysts rated media coverage about the war against Iran in our Topic of the Week.

Reuters and NPR provided the most fact-based and minimally biased coverage from our content set. Both were rated by our analyst team as “mix of fact reporting and analysis” with a “middle/balanced” bias. The NPR article focuses on the news that three U.S. service members were killed and five wounded in a retaliatory attack at a military base in Kuwait. It also gives details about the military action thus far, leadership changes in Iran, and the reaction throughout the Mideast.

The Reuters article also gives information about the U.S. casualties, as well as a poll showing that one in four Americans support the military action. It summarizes comments made by President Trump about how long the war may last and quotes lawmakers and a national intelligence expert about what might happen next in Iran and throughout the Mideast.

A video from the Brian Tyler Cohen YouTube channel speculates about why Trump chose to attack Iran. The host shows social media posts by Trump in 2011 and 2012, when he predicts President Obama will attack Iran in order to win the election, and a recent post in which he accuses Iran of interfering in the 2020 and 2024 elections. Cohen and his guest, attorney Marc Elias, predict that Trump will use the war as a pretext to take over elections this fall. Elias calls Trump a “wannabe dictator” who is planning an “authoritarian takeover.” Cohen says Trump is “an aspiring autocrat whose only priority is himself and his grip on power.” Analysts rated the video as “opinion” with a “strong left” bias.

Three content pieces were found by our analyst team to be “selective or incomplete/unfair persuasion.” An article from Red State celebrates the killing of Iran’s supreme leader with the headline: “The Malignant Tumor Is Gone: America and Israel Just Gave Iran Back to the Iranian People.” In the guest editorial,  Dr. Houman Hemmati writes, “The head of the snake that poisoned my homeland for forty-seven years has been severed.” He compares the war in Iran with treating a cancer patient by saying the U.S. must now “hunt down the metastasis.” Hemmati says Trump’s decision to attack Iran was the right one because it will give Iran the chance to live up to its promise. Analysts found the article to be “unfair persuasion” because it treats the author’s opinions as facts. It received a bias rating of “hyper-partisan right.”

In comparison, a Salon article begins with this subhead: “Trump’s attack on Iran is an act of vanity and desperation, fueled by America’s collective moral blindness.” The commentary from Executive Editor Andrew O’Hehir says the attack has nothing to do with “democratic legitimacy or coherent geopolitical strategy.” Instead, it’s an “act of personal and political desperation, a supposedly daring roll of the dice aimed at rescuing his corrupt and crumbling regime by attaching it to a glorious American victory.” “The entire drama is about him,” O’Hehir writes. Analysts found the article to be “unfair persuasion” with a “hyper-partisan left” bias due to sweeping claims and recurring insults against Trump, Congress, MAGA, and other foreign officials.

Finally, a video from the LV NATION YouTube channel proclaims: “Dems HUMILIATED as MILLIONS of Iranians REVOLT & Side With Trump!!!” Host Lou Valentino decries “leftists” for protesting against Trump’s actions in Iran while the Iranian people cry “tears of joy.” He applauds Trump’s actions and calls it “peace through strength.” Analysts found the video to be “selective or incomplete” because Valentino argues that the celebrations in Iran are proof that criticisms of the military action are unfounded but does not acknowledge that many conservatives also have spoken out against Trump’s actions. They gave it a bias rating of “hyper-partisan right” because the host supports Trump and criticizes the reactions from “leftist” media and Democrats such as U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar.

You can participate in our Topic of the Week exercise yourself by visiting our website. New Topics of the Week are posted each Monday. Read the articles and watch the videos yourself, then come back on Wednesday to compare your scores with those of our analysts. Learn more here.