President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he recently spoke on the phone with right-wing commentator and media personality Tucker Carlson about the rapidly escalating conflict between Israel and Iran and whether the United States would get involved.
The Context
Trump’s typically ironclad MAGA coalition has splintered since last week, when Israel launched a series of strikes that took out top Iranian military and intelligence leaders, nuclear sites and key nuclear scientists. Iran responded with its own retaliatory strikes, which have killed at least 24 people in Israel and injured more than 500, Israeli officials said.
Israel has also attacked Iran’s state-run television network and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to rule out killing Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Both developments further fueled concerns among those on the left and the right that Israel is aiming for regime change in Iran, a charge Netanyahu has denied, though he’s said Israel would welcome the collapse of the regime.
The war—and the possibility that the U.S. may get involved in the bombing—has fractured Trump’s MAGA base, putting isolationists like Carlson, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene directly at odds with pro-Trump foreign-policy hawks like Fox News personalities Sean Hannity and Mark Levin, along with GOP Senators Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham.
Alex Brandon/AP
What To Know
The president on Wednesday said he recently spoke to Carlson, confirming what the former Fox News prime-time host said in an earlier interview with Cruz.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said Carlson had reached out to him to apologize for some comments he made deriding those in the administration and the MAGA sphere who have cheered Israel’s strikes against Iran.
“Tucker’s a nice guy,” Trump said. “He called and apologized the other day because he thought he said things that were a little bit too strong and I appreciated that.”
The president, who has put out mixed messaging about whether the U.S. will switch from a defensive posture to an offensive one against Iran, went on to say that he asked Carlson if he was OK with Iran having nuclear weapons.
“I did ask Tucker, I said, ‘Well, are you OK with nuclear weapons being in the hands of Iran?'” Trump told reporters. “And he sort of didn’t like that. And I said, ‘Well, if it’s OK with you, then you and I do have a difference.'”
“But it’s really not OK with him,” the president added. “Therefore, you may have to fight.”
Trump’s comments come as he’s espoused increasingly bellicose rhetoric vis-a-vis Iran, calling for its “unconditional surrender,” to which Khamenei responded by saying Iran will “never surrender.”
The United States also appears to be girding for further escalation as Trump weighs providing Israel with bunker-busting munitions, without which Israel cannot destroy Iran’s main underground nuclear facility located in Fordo.
The U.S. State Department also began evacuating nonessential personnel and their families from the embassy in Jerusalem and offered to evacuate American citizens in Israel via flights and cruise ships.
What People Are Saying
Trump told reporters on Wednesday: “Maybe we won’t have to fight. I’m not looking to fight. But if it’s a choice between fighting and them having a nuclear weapon, you have to do what you have to do.”
He added that had “ideas” about what to do regarding Iran, saying: “I like to make the final decision one second before it’s due … Things change with war.”
What Happens Next
Trump met with his national security team in the Situation Room on Wednesday to mull over the U.S.’s options in the war.
Update 6/18/25, 7:46 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and context.
