CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Challenges Donald Trump’s Iran ‘War Has Been Won’ Claim With Sharp On-Air Question

As the U.S.-Israeli war Against Iran enters its fourth week, President Donald Trump has claimed that the “war has been won.” However, CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins posed a rhetorical question for Trump that invalidates his statements.

According to Medialite, on Wednesday, March 25, Collins began her episode of The Source with Kaitlan Collins by announcing the news about the Pentagon’s plans to deploy 1,000 U.S. troops from the elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East. “That’s in addition to the thousands of marines and soldiers who are already on the way,” she said.

AP News reports that three people with insider knowledge about the Trump administration’s plans also mentioned that the U.S. military is set to deploy at least 1,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East. Last week, U.S. officials said that thousands of Marines would be heading to the region soon. According to the news outlet, soldiers of the 82nd Airborne “are trained to parachute into hostile or contested territory to secure key territory and airfields.”

Collins then played a recap of Trump’s messages from the Oval Office that contradict the developments. “Well, I think we’re going to end it. I can’t tell you for sure. You know, I don’t like to say this, we’ve won this — this war has been won,” Trump says to a reporter in the video clip, reports the news outlet.

The White House correspondent then pauses the video to pose a question about the U.S. administration’s plan to deploy more troops to the war region, despite Trump saying that the country has won the war.

“Of course, one might ask if the president does believe this war has been won, why thousands more U.S. service members are being sent to the region tonight,” she said before adding, “That question for the president comes, as he also says that the United States and Iran are discussing potential peace talks.”

Collins then played a video clip where Trump shares details about alleged negotiations with Iran. He said that apart from him, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are involved in these negotiations.

Collins then pointed out that there has not been any clarification, and news regarding these talks with Iranian authorities took place through intermediaries. According to AP News, Iran has refuted Trump’s claims about any such talks.

She also shared a clip where Trump mentioned that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was not exactly happy about the war being settled. “Pete didn’t want it to be settled,” Trump said.

The CNN news anchor then played a clip of Hegseth giving an update of the war from the Oval Office, where he said, “And that’s why we see ourselves as part of this negotiation as well. We negotiate with bombs.”

Responding to Hegseth’s statement, Collins remarked that the U.S. bombs on Iran did not stop the Islamic Republic’s authorities from sending gifts to Trump - a claim made by the president himself.

“They did something yesterday that was amazing, actually. They gave us a present, and the present arrived today, and it was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money,” Trump said in the video clip Collins played, before adding, “And I’m not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize, and they gave it to us, and they said they were going to give it. So, that meant one thing to me. We’re dealing with the right people.”

When the reporter in the clip asked if it was “nuclear-related,” Trump refuted and added that the alleged present was “oil and gas related.”