The hits just kept coming for CNN this week. Amid criticism of the network’s biased reporting from Iran, bias about the conflict, and how they got access to the country, two high-ranking CNN officials were caught at the Iranian Embassy in London attending a celebration for the founding of the Islamic regime. Additionally, the daytime edition of CNN News Central on Thursday aired four-uninterrupted minutes of Iranian state television delivering a purported written statement from the latest ayatollah, who’s in a coma.
On March 12, the U.K.-based newspaper The Telegraph published an article about the unfolding scandal engulfing Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government where his Foreign Ministry attended a February 12 celebration at the Iranian Embassy to mark the founding of the Islamic Republic. The party was happening at the same time they were slaughtering thousands of their own citizens in the streets. The newspaper reported:
Foreign Office staff attended a party at the Iranian embassy to celebrate the Islamic revolution just weeks after the regime massacred thousands of its own people.
As smartly dressed guests, including UK civil servants, gathered at the London event, embassy officials hailed Iran’s “remarkable accomplishments” in spite of “unjust” Western sanctions. Video footage shows attendees standing in silence for a rendition of Iran’s national anthem.
On the same day as the event, Feb 12, the US-based group Human Rights Activists News Agency announced that at least 7,000 people had been killed in Iran, including 219 children. Anti-regime campaigners previously said up to 30,000 protesters may have been murdered.
In one of the images captured by Iranian state media (pictured above), Iran Press and shared by The Telegraph, CNN London bureau chief Andrew Roy and CNN chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance can be seen meeting and shaking hands with Iran's Ambassador to the U.K., Seyed Ali Mousavi.
The CNN officials didn’t appear to be attending the event as journalists. No camera crew are visible and neither was there any form of recording equipment. No voice recorders. No note pads. No visible press credentials that would show they were there for work.
As of the publication of this piece (March 13, 2026), Chance had not filed any report about it. According to his profile page on the CNN website, the only things he reported on in February were about Ukraine and Russia. A SnapStream search of on-air reports from Matthew Chance confirmed this.
Neither Roy nor Chance had even posted on X about attending the regime party.
As of the publication of this piece, CNN was the only American outlet to be granted permission by the regime to operate inside country during the current conflict. Senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen was their man on the ground. It’s unclear if the connects made during the Embassy celebration played a role in CNN scoring permission.
In a statement to NewsBusters, a CNN spokesperson defended Roy and Chance attending the party for the regime, saying: “Journalists attend different functions as part of normal work as an opportunity to speak with government officials whom they cover. The individuals photographed were there briefly for that reason and joined journalists from several different news outlets at this event.”
These are the questions we asked:
-Why was CNN attending an Iranian Embassy event to celebrate the creation of the Iranian regime that has murdered thousands of its own people?
-If they were there to cover it, why was no report apparently filed?
-Did Roy or Chance press the ambassador on the reports of slaughtered civilians?
-Did their connections with the Embassy play a role in CNN getting permission to operate in the country?
Things weren’t looking particularly good for CNN. Not only did their journalists attend a party for the regime, but part of Thursday’s CNN News Central ran four-uninterrupted minutes of Iranian state television announcing the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei and reading a purported statement written by him.
IRGCNN
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) March 13, 2026
Yesterday, CNN aired ran four-uninterrupted minutes of Iranian state television announcing the new supreme leader and reading a purported statement written by him.
We later found out he's been in a coma. pic.twitter.com/DOn9eELkIT
Only later did the world find out that Mojtaba was actually comatose and missing a leg following an airstrike. “Due to his condition, he does not know of the ongoing war, the death of his family members, including his wife and son and of his own election as Supreme leader, the source said,” reported the U.K.-based Daily Mail.
On sharing Iranian state TV, a CNN spokesperson told NewsBusters: “The world is watching with anticipation which direction this war will take. Purported remarks from Iran’s new Supreme Leader are a critical component in helping audiences understand where this conflict is heading and were aired for their obvious news value.”
CNN was having a hard time shaking the quip people on social media were making at their expense, calling them IRGCNN.
