WASHINGTON — Right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson clashed with Ted Cruz in an interview and posted a clip Tuesday night where the senator was unable to answer questions about Iran.
“How many people live in Iran, by the way?” Carlson asked the Texas Republican.
“I don’t know the population,” Cruz responded.
“At all?” Carlson asked, prompting Cruz to reiterate that he did not know. “You don’t know the population of the country you seek to topple?”
Asked again how Cruz did not know Iran’s population, the senator responded, “I don’t sit around memorizing population tables.” (The CIA estimated in 2024 that the country’s population level sits at around 88 million.)
The clip immediately caught fire online, with Carlson’s post racking up over 22 million views and thousands of comments, according to X analytics.
The clash underscores a broader split within the MAGA movement over U.S. involvement in the conflict between Iran and Israel. One faction of the movement, including Carlson, has urged against U.S. intervention, painting the other side as “warmongers.” The more hawkish faction, which includes Cruz, has forcefully supported the U.S. backing Israel’s efforts.
The conflict comes as President Donald Trump weighs what he will do, with a senior administration official telling NBC News Wednesday morning that “all options remain on the table.” Asked about potential U.S. strikes against Iran, Trump told reporters Wednesday, “I may do it, I may not do it.”
Cruz said in a Fox News interview on Sunday that he believed “it is very much in the interest of America to see regime change” in Iran.
Also included in the clip of Carlson’s interview, which airs in full on Wednesday, the former Fox News host argued that Cruz’s knowledge about Iran’s population was “kind of relevant because you’re calling for the overthrow of the government.”
Moments later, Carlson asked Cruz for the ethnic mix of Iran.
“They are Persians and predominantly Shia,” Cruz said, referring to a sect of Islam.
Carlson cut in to ask for percentages, and Cruz retorted, “this is cute” as the two men talked over each other. (Persians make up Iran’s largest ethnic group, but the country also Azeri, Kurd, Lur and other groups, according to the CIA.)
“You don’t know anything about Iran,” Carlson said, and the interview devolved into a heated, overlapping exchange.
After the clip was published, Cruz accused Carlson on X of releasing “a snippet playing a ‘gotcha’ on the population of Iran.”
“I declined to play that silly game,” he continued, encouraging people to watch the full interview when it airs.
Trump has weighed in on Carlson’s criticism of potential U.S. strikes on Iran, calling the former Fox News host “kooky.”
“Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that,” IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!” Trump said in a post to Truth Social on Tuesday before the interview clip was posted to X.
Asked by a reporter on Monday for his response to Carlson calling Trump “complicit” in the conflict with Iran, Trump said, “I don’t know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen.” Carlson left Fox News in 2023.
Garrett Haake, Sarah Dean and Katherine Doyle contributed.