Welcome to our live coverage of the still febrile situation in the Middle East, and in US politics. Which is more fraught? It’s surprisingly hard to say.

The White House is still fuming over media coverage of an initial intelligence report from the American military, which suggested Presidnet Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran had left most of the country’s nuclear infrastructure intact.

Today Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt joined the chorus of Trump administration officials slamming, specifically, CNN national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand, who was first to reveal the report’s contents to the public.

“Journalism is trying to find the facts and the truth. And this week we saw this same reporter being used to push a fake narrative to try to undermine the President of the United States and more importantly the brave fighter pilots who conducted one of the most successful operations in United States history,” Ms Leavitt said.

“And I think the American people fully know that this operation was a complete and total success.

“This is a reporter who has been, unfortunately, used by people who dislike Donald Trump in this government to push fake and false narratives. She should be ashamed of herself.”

Mr Trump himself has said Ms Bertrand should be sacked and “thrown out like a dog”.

“We stand 100 per cent behind Natasha Bertrand’s journalism,” CNN said yesterday.

“CNN’s reporting made clear that this was an initial finding that could change with additional intelligence. We have extensively covered President Trump’s own deep scepticism about it.

“However we do not believe it is reasonable to criticise CNN reporters for accurately reporting the existence of the assessment and accurate characterising its findings, which are in the public interest.”