Tucker Carlson tore into Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in a fiery face-to-face showdown over Iran, leaving the senator stumbling and humiliated. The tense interview, which Carlson previewed Tuesday night, will be released Wednesday on his show on X.
The confrontation got heated fast as the two clashed over whether the U.S. should support Israel in striking Iran.
Carlson has warned against dragging America into another Middle East war. Cruz, on the other hand, wants full support for Israel, even suggesting regime change in Iran. But Carlson wasn’t having it—and he came out swinging.
“How many people are living in Iran, by the way?” Carlson asked.
“I don’t know the population,” Cruz replied. “At all?,” Carlson shoot back. “No, I don’t know the population,” Cruz snapped.
“You don’t know the population of the country you seek to topple?” Carlson pressed.
Cruz, caught off guard, asked, “How many people live in Iran?”
“Ninety-two million.”
“Ok. Yeah, I–” Cruz tried to recover.
“How could you not know that?” Carlson fired back.
Cruz snapped, “I don’t sit around memorizing population tables.”
Carlson didn’t let up. “Well, it’s kind of relevant because you’re calling for the overthrow of the government.”
Cruz pushed back. “Why is it relevant, whether it’s 90 million or 80 million or 100 million? Why is that relevant?”
Carlson didn’t miss a beat. “Well, because if you don’t know anything about the country–”
“I didn’t say I don’t know anything about the country.”
“Ok, what’s the ethnic mix of Iran?”
“They are Persians and predominantly Shia–”
“What percent?”
Cruz scoffed. “Ok, this is cute. Ok–”
Carlson hit him hard. “You don’t know anything about Iran. So, actually, the country–”
“Ok, I am not the Tucker Carlson expert on Iran, who says–”
“You’re a senator who’s calling for the overthrow of the government and you don’t know anything about the country!”
Cruz tried to turn the tables. “No, you don’t know anything about the country. You’re the one who claims they’re not trying to murder Donald Trump.”
“No, I’m not saying that.”
“You’re one who can’t figure out if it was a good idea to kill General Soleimani, and you said it was bad.”
“You don’t believe they’re trying to murder Trump–” Carlson interrupted.
“Yes, I do!” Cruz insisted.
“–because you’re not calling for military strikes against them in retaliation. And if you really believe that–”
“We’re carrying out military strikes today.”
“You said Israel was.”
“Right, with our help. I said ‘we.’ Israel is leading them, but we’re supporting them.”
Carlson stopped him cold. “Well this, you’re breaking news here because the U.S. government last night denied – the National Security Council – spokesman Alex Pfeiffer denied on behalf of Trump that we were acting on Israel’s behalf in any offensive capacity at all.”
Cruz backpedaled. “No, we’re not bombing them. Israel’s bombing them.”
“You just said ‘we’ were.”
“We are supporting Israel–”
Carlson didn’t let go. “This is high stakes. You’re a senator. If you’re saying the United States government is at war with Iran right now, people are listening.”
Watch the clip below:
This is true journalism.
Tucker absolutely EXPOSES Ted Cruz for calling for the invasion of a country he knows nothing about.
Protect Tucker Carlson at all costs. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/xo8KVJfPzL
— James Dunn 🦡🇺🇸 (@dunnrightpodcst) June 18, 2025
