A screenshot of the now deleted UPI article at The Miami Herald, one of more than two dozen McClatchy newspapers which removed the report
In response to communication from CAMERA, McClatchy commendably removed from more than two dozen of its news sites a United Press International article which wrongly stated that Iran’s June 7 attack on Israel was the first time the Islamic Republic attacked the Jewish state on Hezbollah’s behalf.
<p”>Dalal Saoud’s June 9 UPI analysis, “Iran, Israel use Lebanon to test deterrence, negotiating power,” wrongly claimed that Iran’s attack on Israel this week was the first time the Islamic Republic attacked the Jewish state on behalf of Hezbollah:
The question is why Iran decided to act now after having left Gaza, Hezbollah and Lebanon to fend for themselves and face their own fate since 2023. Iran retaliated [sic] only when Israel attacked it in June 2025.
But as UPI’s Clyde Hughes and Sheri Walsh reported Oct. 1, 2024 (“Israel vows revenge after Iran launches missile attack“):
Iran fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles, in response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in the limited attack that ended relatively quickly. . .
“It is clear that this was, once again, a significant escalation by Iran,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday. “When you see Iran launching attacks on another state, ultimately to come to the defense of a terrorist organization, it is an escalation. Israel has the right to defend itself.”
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps took responsibility for the attack, claiming it was in retaliation for Israel’s attack on Hezbollah’s leadership.
Iran launched a missile attack on Israel in April using more than 300 drones and ballistic missiles in retaliation for Israel killing two top Iranian commanders in Syria.
Thus, contrary to Saoud’s reporting, Iran’s attack this week was not the first time it has attacked Israel on behalf of its proxy Hezbollah.
In addition to the factual error, Saoud’s grossly tendentious analysis egregiously whitewashed Iranian and Hezbollah responsibility for war.
Thus, regarding Hezbollah’s unleashing rocket fire on Israel Oct. 8, 2023 following Hamas’ massacre in southern Israel one day earlier, Saoud obscures, citing unspecified “conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.that [sic] broke out on Oct. 8, 2023.”
Iran and Israel, who traded missile attacks triggered by a strike on Hezbollah‘s stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut, turned to Lebanon to test deterrence and new rules of engagement — while seeking to take control of the tiny country’s own U.S.- mediated negotiation track, according to analysts.