<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Fox News host Bret Baier defended his colleague after President Donald Trump criticized a segment on his show regarding the latest developments in the Iran situation.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">On Thursday evening, Trump posted on Truth Social, telling Baier to "straighten out his flunkies" and labeling the Iran report by Fox News correspondent Jonathan Hunt as "particularly inaccurate." Trump objected to the network's portrayal of negotiations between the Iranian regime and his administration, stating, "I don’t want to meet, they do. In fact, they are begging to make a deal." </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Baier addressed Trump's Truth Social post during his broadcast, asserting that Hunt's report was accurate. </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">"First of all, Jonathan Hunt’s not a flunky. He’s a great reporter. Second of all, Mr. President, we didn’t say you wanted to meet. In fact, we played a sound bite that you didn’t want to meet and there are no negotiations," Baier stated in response to Trump.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Baier continued, "We said that Treasury Secretary [Scott] Bessent is hoping to meet with G20 countries to increase the pressure on Iran, and that Gulf state allies, including Qatar, are inside Tehran trying to get Iran to agree to concessions. That’s what we said." </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In Baier’s initial segment on Iran, he began by stating, "As regional allies work to broker a deal, President Trump says there are no new negotiations going on between the U.S. and Iran." Later, Hunt discussed Bessent’s negotiations with G20 leaders in North Carolina.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/world/4702385/iran-oman-open-strait-of-hormuz-await-us-buy-in/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">IRAN AND OMAN COME TO AGREEMENT TO OPEN STRAIT OF HORMUZ, BUT AWAIT US BUY-IN</a></strong></p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Hunt noted, "With lines at gas stations another sign that Iran’s economy is being squeezed, the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, hopes to persuade G20 countries to increase that pressure still further when he meets with them over the weekend in North Carolina. The administration’s hope is that eventually the Iranian leadership will capitulate and compromise. But for now, that isn’t happening." </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As the Trump administration has paused peace negotiations with Iran, its strategy has shifted towards increasing economic pressure on the country. The administration has expanded Treasury sanctions on the Iranian regime while also intensifying pressure on Iran’s business partners.</p>