On January 2, President Donald Trump ordered an airstrike killing Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who commanded Iran’s Quds Force, a branch of the nation’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Following the strike, coverage of Iran dominated cable news as tensions between the two countries escalated, resulting in Iran launching a missile attack on military bases housing U.S. and coalition troops and accidentally downing a Ukrainian passenger plane.
The overall most frequent guests on cable news were:
Ayman Mohyeldin -- 13 appearances (MSNBC)
Barry McCaffrey -- 11 appearances (MSNBC)
Ben Rhodes -- 11 appearances (MSNBC)
Brett McGurk -- 11 appearances (MSNBC)
Sen. Bob Menendez -- 10 appearances (5 CNN, 5 MSNBC)
Jack Keane -- 10 appearances (Fox News)
Cedric Leighton -- 9 appearances (CNN)
Sen. Chris Murphy -- 9 appearances (4 CNN, 5 MSNBC)
Rep. Dan Crenshaw -- 9 appearances (1 CNN, 5 Fox News, 3 MSNBC)
Daniel Hoffman -- 9 appearances (Fox News)
James Stavridis -- 9 appearances (1 CNN, 8 MSNBC)
Max Boot -- 9 appearances (CNN)
Peter Baker -- 9 appearances (MSNBC)
Walid Phares - 9 appearances (Fox News)
Top Fox News guests
Jack Keane -- 10 appearances
Daniel Hoffman -- 9 appearances
Walid Phares -- 9 appearances
Dan Bongino -- 8 appearances
Johnny Joey Jones -- 8 appearances
Rep. Michael Waltz -- 7 appearances
Marc Thiessen -- 6 appearances
Pete Hegseth -- 6 appearances
Rep. Dan Crenshaw -- 5 appearances
Bret Baier -- 5 appearances
Top CNN guests
Cedric Leighton -- 9 appearances
Max Boot -- 9 appearances
James Marks -- 8 appearances
John Kirby -- 8 appearances
Mark Hertling -- 8 appearances
Dana Bash -- 7 appearances
Philip Mudd -- 7 appearances
Susan Hennessey -- 7 appearances
David Sanger -- 6 appearances
Gloria Borger -- 6 appearances
Top MSNBC guests
Ayman Mohyeldin -- 13 appearances
Barry McCaffrey -- 11 appearances
Ben Rhodes -- 11 appearances
Brett McGurk -- 11 appearances
Peter Baker -- 9 appearances
James Stavridis -- 8 appearances
Christopher Hill -- 8 appearances
Jonathan Lemire -- 8 appearances
Ned Price -- 6 appearances
Richard Stengel -- 6 appearances
Here is a complete list of guests CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News have brought on to discuss Iran in the wake of the January 2 attack.
Media Matters’ internal database includes weekday cable news programming on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC between the hours of 6 a.m. and midnight. Segments are coded in near-real time by analysts for pertinent information. We searched our database for guest segments from on or after January 2 that included “Iran,” “Soleimani,” or “Flight 752” in the segment notes.