Right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson grilled Texas Sen. Ted Cruz during an interview that outlined a growing rift in the MAGA universe with regards to U.S. involvement in Israel’s fighting with Iran.
A clip of the interview posted to X featured Carlson questioning Cruz’s grasp on Iran trivia including the country’s population, which Cruz didn’t know.
“At all?” the seemingly amused host pushed before telling the Senator the number is 92 million.
The CIA estimated in 2024 that more than 88 million people call Iran home though other estimates
“You don’t know the population of the country you seek to topple?” Carlson marveled.
Cruz contended the population of Iran isn’t relevant to a debate about whether the U.S. should side with Israel as the conflict in the Middle East intensifies.
“If you don’t know anything about the country…” Carlson continued before Cruz interrupted to claim he knows what he needs to know to support U.S. intervention.
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
The 97-second clip of Carlson’s spat with Cruz had nearly 25 million page views on X before the interview aired in its entirety Wednesday afternoon. Cruz went on X to urge people to tune in for the entire conversation rather than the teaser Carlson posted.
“Did a long interview w/ Tucker. He released a snippet playing a ‘gotcha’ on the population of Iran,” the Senator wrote, “I declined to play that silly game.”
The rift between Carlson and Cruz demonstrates that even among President Trump’s biggest supporters, there’s been considerable debate about how the U.S. should deal with the powder keg situation that escalated Friday when Israel launched airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear and military facilities. Both countries have since traded missile attacks for several days.
Carlson went after Cruz again during their discussion when the Senator said “we’re” carrying out military strikes implying the U.S. is involved in the conflict.
“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 we’re acting on Israel’s behalf in any offensive capacity at all,” Carlson said.
Cruz clarified Israel is spearheading the attack with U.S. support.
Carlson and Tucker famously locked horns in 2022 when the Senator groveled for forgiveness after referring to the MAGA extremists who stormed the U.S. Capitol as “terrorists” following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack.
Cruz claimed he misspoke to which Carlson — who spread misinformation about that seige before being dumped by Fox News — replied “I guess I just don’t believe you.”
