On July 5, Tucker Carlson interviewed Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian which will be aired in the coming days. Although very much an insider within the MAGA community, Carlson has been a critic of the White House's willingness to intervene directly in global affairs. Such chats with leaders who stand opposed to the US in conflict aren’t new for Carlson. Not long ago, he interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been particularly uncooperative in agreeing to negotiate a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. Many in the media thought that Carlson giving Putin a platform to promulgate the Russian propaganda talking points was ill-advised. But what will America learn from this latest discussion?
Tucker Carlson Gets It Wrong?
The exact amount of damage the US airstrike inflicted on Iran's nuclear development sites of Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan is not known. However, it's safe to say, particularly with the Fordow installation, being hit with a dozen 30,000-lb bunker buster bombs is, in the words of the former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, "not nothing." But, before the successful B-2 Spirit stealth bomber raid on Iran, which was executed as flawlessly as one could have wished, Tucker Carlson claimed in an X posting on March 17: "It's worth pointing out that a strike on the Iranian nuclear sites will almost certainly result in thousands of American deaths at bases throughout the Middle East, and cost the United States tens of billions of dollars. The cost of future acts of terrorism on American soil may be even higher." However, this dire prediction did not happen, nor is it likely to in the future.
So, why did Mr. Carlson feel compelled to reach out to the Iranians for their perspective? In the two-minute teaser to the release of the full interview, Carlson explained: "We were just at war with Iran ten days ago, and maybe again… American citizens have the constitutional right, and the God-given right to all the information they can gather about matters that affect them." Carlson pointed out that if the US is doing something "in their name," they are entitled to have as much information as is available about the country America is fighting. Hence, Carlson interviewed Iran's president to get to the bottom of things. Whether what he got as answers to his questions put to President Pezeshkian were truthful is questionable at best. Even Carlson admitted: "Now can you believe everything you hear from the president of Iran? Probably not."
However, Mr. Carlson states that whether the Iranian president is telling the truth "is not the point." Tucker believes Americans have the right to hear what Mr. Pezeshkian has to say and determine the veracity for themselves. That’s useful, perhaps, if the truth is self-evident – but otherwise, maybe it isn’t. The three questions Carlson asked were: "What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?"
Questions and Answers
The first question appears to be the most opaque regarding Iran's true intentions. Regardless of what Pezeshkian says, there are few reliable indicators as to what Iran's short- and long-term intentions are. However, some of the country’s leadership is defiant, claiming a resurrection of its nuclear program. The Times of Israel reported:
"Iran is assessing the damage to its nuclear industry following Israel's intensive 12-day campaign against it, and arrangements have been made for its restoration, Iran's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami said Tuesday. 'The plan is to prevent interruptions in the process of production and services,' Eslami said, according to Iran's state-owned Mehr News, claiming that Tehran had been prepared for damage to its nuclear sites."
The Iranian president's answer to the second question will predictably be “no,” though Iranians routinely chant in their rallies: "Death to America. Death to Israel." For the Iranian leaders to assert Iran is at war with the US is absurd, and they know it. After the 12-Day War with Israel and the US airstrikes, the Iranian military has no air defense, and much of its cruise missile, drone, and ballistic missile capability is destroyed. The third question is, of the three, the most self-evident. Iran has been at war with Israel since the return of the Ayatollah Khomeini from exile in 1979. Tehran's actions belie any claim to the contrary.
Whether Iran has the will to restart its nuclear program to obtain an atomic warhead is unclear. What is clear is that if that is indeed what the mullahs in Tehran have in mind, they can expect a revisit by the US as a reminder that such thinking has demonstrably dire consequences. As Real Clear Politics reported, when asked in a press conference: "If the intelligence reports conclude that Iran can enrich uranium to a level that concerns you, would you consider bombing the country again?" President Trump did not miss a beat before replying: "Sure. Without question." The unequivocal nature of the commander-in-chief's answer should give Iran pause to rethink any renewed rush to a nuclear weapon.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.
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