Tucker Carlson Plays Gotcha with Sen. Cruz on Iran

Maybe you’ve already seen this clip circulating on X last night or today.

Ted Cruz on Iran. Full interview tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/hJNwAHAnxZ

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 18, 2025

Pulling 90 seconds from a 2 hour conversation seems like a cheap shot but I was struck how similar this seemed to a moment in another debate that a lot of the isolationist crowd mocked when it happened.

Douglas Murray brutally shuts down Dave Smith when he admits he’s never been to Israel or Gaza:

“If you’re going to spend a year and a half talking about a place, you should at least do the courtesy of visiting it!”

pic.twitter.com/ktaXy56BHT

— 𝗡𝗶𝗼𝗵 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝗴 ♛ ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) April 10, 2025

“Do you have to go and actually touch the ground to talk about it?” Rogan asked. Similarly, do you need to know the population of Iran from the CIA World Factbook in order to have an opinion on whether or not the country should be allowed to build nuclear weapons?

Anyway, the full interview is out today and it starts out a lot calmer than the snippet above suggests. Cruz praises Carlson at length for his positions on the border and the pandemic shutdowns. He suggests they agree on about 80% of their politics with the exception of some foreign police issues. Cruz argues that he holds a position in between interventionist and isolationist which he calls “non-interventionist hawk.” 

But there is a moment about 30 minutes in where Cruz actually puts Carlson on the spot. Carlson suggests the aid given to Israel is very expensive and doesn’t make sense when so many Americans are struggling to buy groceries. Cruz responded, “You said the support for Israel was very expensive. How much support do we give Israel?”

Carlson dodged by saying, “Well, you tell me you vote for it.”

“It’s about $3 billion a year is the military assistance,” Cruz said. He added that the military assistance was the only aid given to Israel.

And not long after that the conversation takes a turn into a discussion of AIPAC. This is the point when all hell really breaks loose. Cruz admits to being supported by AIPAC and even describes how the organization works, holding fundraisers for candidates who support their goals. Carlson keeps asking if AIPAC is a foreign lobbyist being directed by Israel, which Cruz denies repeatedly. 

And that leads to Cruz wondering why Carlson is only focused on AIPAC and lobbying by Israeli aligned groups when there are lobbyists for every nation on earth in Washington doing many of the same things. He implies that Carlson is fixated on Israel and “the Jews.” Carlson takes offense at this and says Cruz is making a “sleazy feline” insinuation that he is antisemitic.

The conversation eventually moves on with Cruz saying he wants to lower the temperature but it never really does go down much. The excerpt above comes from near the end of the conversation. Here’s the full interview.

Senator Ted Cruz demands regime change in Iran. He’s not interested in the details.

(0:00) Why Does Cruz Want Regime Change in Iran?
(6:28) Is the US Currently Acting in Its Own Best Interest?
(7:49) Was Regime Change in Syria Beneficial to the US?
(12:31) Was the Iraq War a… pic.twitter.com/iIdENogQ2T

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 18, 2025

Carlson is clearly in the anti-interventionist camp on the right and is perhaps the leading voice in that camp at this moment. So, for what it’s worth, CNN reported today that most Americans are against allowing Iran to build nuclear weapons and are basically evenly split on support for airstrikes to ensure that.

Trump’s actual positions (vs the strawmen many are arguing against) are enormously popular with Americans outside the online influencer bubble. https://t.co/9FMnZFvbnZ

— AG (@AGHamilton29) June 18, 2025

Americans are where President Trump is on this. They support the goal of denying Iran nuclear weapons and they might even support limited military intervention in the form of airstrikes to make sure Iran is denied those weapons. Trump himself seems to be on the fence so it’s fair to say he’s right where they are at the moment.