Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei has categorically rejected Washington’s claims that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was relocated to a military base over alleged “threats” to his life linked to the Islamic Republic, describing the allegations as part of a coordinated disinformation campaign. In a post on X on Thursday, Baqaei denounced Washington for attempting to portray itself as a “victim,” while concealing its own record of aggression against Iran.
“In its joint aggression against Iran alongside the Israeli regime, the United States committed not only abhorrent war crimes, but also grave acts of state terrorism through the cowardly assassination of Iranian officials and scientists,” he wrote. “Now, through a coordinated disinformation campaign built around fabricated headlines of ‘Iranian terrorism,’ Washington seeks to cast itself as the victim! It expects the world to ignore its own long record of aggression and terrorism, and to accept unsubstantiated claims of a ‘terror plot,’” the official stated.
“However, no amount of media frenzy can rewrite history, erase responsibility, or conceal the identity of those truly responsible for aggression, terrorism, and war crimes,” he said. The official was referring to the grave human losses resulting from unprovoked American-Israeli aggression against Iran, including the latest round of the aggression from February 28 until April 7 that claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people and wounded more than 32,000 others.
His remarks followed reports by The New York Times and Fox News Digital that Bessent had moved from his Washington, D.C., residence to a military base following alleged “threats against his life.”
Press TV reports the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman's rejection of US claims about a threat to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and attributes his remarks with care. In its closing sentences it then adopts his framing in its own voice, calling the US and Israeli strikes 'unprovoked American-Israeli aggression' and giving a casualty toll with no source. The US side appears only as unnamed 'claims' and two press reports.
States one side's claim as fact
Minor
“unprovoked American-Israeli aggression against Iran, including the latest round of the aggression”
Why this matters
In its own narration, outside any quotation, Press TV calls the US and Israeli strikes 'unprovoked American-Israeli aggression' and 'the latest round of the aggression'.
The impression it gives
A reader takes it as an established fact, reported by the outlet, that the strikes were unprovoked aggression.
The context
This characterisation belongs to the spokesman. The article quotes Baqaei using the same framing in S3. Press TV moves it from his words into its own voice with no attribution, so a party's contested characterisation reads as the outlet's finding.
How we know
Elsewhere in the article“In its joint aggression against Iran alongside the Israeli regime”
Elsewhere in the article“Baqaei denounced Washington for attempting to portray itself”
Press TV gives the toll as 'claimed the lives of', with an abstract noun, 'aggression', as the subject.
The impression it gives
A reader gets a count of the dead without being told plainly that the strikes killed them.
The context
The article names the US and Israel as the attackers, so the actor is not hidden. The phrase still turns killing into an abstraction. It also gives no source for the 3,000 dead and 32,000 wounded.
How we know
Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “killed”.
“His remarks followed reports by The New York Times and Fox News Digital”
Why this matters
The US account appears only here and as 'Washington's claims' in S1. No US official is quoted or named, and the substance of the alleged threat is never set out.
The impression it gives
A reader hears the Iranian rebuttal across six sentences but never learns what Washington actually said or who said it.
The context
The article gives Baqaei's words in full across S2 to S6. The US side appears only as a summary of other outlets' reports.
How we know
Elsewhere in the article“categorically rejected Washington’s claims that US Treasury Secretary”