Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson released an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which was posted on his official Facebook page as well as other social media handles.
In the interview, Carlson tackles the subject of the US-Iran war head-on, although the battle has died down since Trump's self-acclaimed victory after US strikes on three of Iran's key nuclear facilities – Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan.
Carlsen said hestuck to simple questions, such as, "Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?"
Carlson, who has been a staunch critic of US involvement in Israel's numerous conflicts with neighouring states, said he expects to be "criticised for doing this interview."
"Why did we do it anyway? Well, we did it because we were just at war with Iran 10 days ago, and maybe again," he said in a clip Saturday.
"And so, our view, which has remained consistent over time, is that American citizens have the constitutional right and the God-given right to all the information they can gather about matters that affect them."
The former primetime anchor said he didn't bother asking Pezeshkian certain questions, such as the state of the nation's nuclear capabilities after the US bombing, which the Pentagon has said set the program back around two years.
"There's no chance he's going to answer that question honestly. I didn't bother to ask it. The answer, in fact, from an American perspective, even from the CIA's perspective, is unknowable. So we dispense with those," he said.
Carlson said he has also asked Netanyahu to come on his show, but is still waiting to hear back.
Discordant response from MAGA base over war with Iran
Carlson, one of the stalwarts of Trump's MAGA base, heavily criticised Israel's preemptive strike on Iran in early June, saying it overturned Trump's 'America First' policy.
On June 18, Carlson engaged in a fiery clash with Senator Ted Cruz over the Republican's reasoning for declaring war against Iran.
It was a feast for the eyes, not only for the MAGA movement's growing isolationist faction but also resonated across the entire political spectrum.
The following day, The Daily Show host John Stewart was seen expressing solidarity with Tucker Carlson in an irony-laden monologue, dubbing the whole situation the Americans find themselves "a bizarro world."
He said: "You've got Tucker Carlson going, 'Why are we going to war with Iran, again,' and I'm like, 'Yeah, you tell him, brother'. That's how upside-down we find ourselves in this moment."
Although Stewart's reaction might seem a bit patronising, Carlson and his like-minded compatriots have long been warning the US audience against the likelihood of an impending war with Iran at Israel's behest.
Dave Smith, another right-wing pundit and the host of popular libertarian podcast Part of the Problem, wrote as early as July 2024, on Netanyahu's ambition to leverage Trump's foreseeable electoral victory to drag the US to a direct confrontation with Iran.
As Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion" on 13 June, unleashing a barrage of missiles over critical nuclear and military facilities in Iran, apparently sabotaging the negotiations mediated by the USA, nothing short of a civil war was breaking out across Trump's MAGA Base.
In one fell swoop, Smith turned on Trump and, perhaps even to the surprise of his MAGA base, called for his impeachment.
Smith announced: "I supported him this last year, I apologise for doing so. It was a bad calculation; at the time, it seemed like the right one. He should be impeached and removed for this one… Of course, Congress will never do it because they're all a bunch of corrupt hacks. Donald Trump should be impeached and removed for this"
On Wednesday, 2 July, the Pentagon announced that the US military strikes against Iran set back the country's nuclear programme by one to two years, following President Donald Trump's claims that the programme was "obliterated".
After the US-Israel's so-called '12-day war' against Iran, the Iranian parliament passed a law suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), citing the agency's failure to condemn the US and Israeli attacks on the country's nuclear facilities.
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