WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 4: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) listens during a Senate Judiciary Committee business meeting to vote on Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Capitol Hill, April 4, 2022 in Washington, DC. A confirmation vote from the full Senate will come later this week. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images).
Conservative media personality Tucker Carlson ripped into Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) during an interview as Cruz struggled to answer questions about Iran.
In a clip posted to social media on Tuesday, Carlson asked Cruz if he knew Iran’s population.
“I don’t know the population,” said Cruz.
“You don’t know the population of the country you seek to topple?” responded a baffled Carlson.
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“I don’t sit around memorizing population tables,” said Cruz.
As the tension escalated, Carlson claimed that Cruz’s knowledge about Iran was “kind of relevant because you’re calling for the overthrow of the government.”
“If you’re calling for toppling a government, it’s incumbent on you to know something about the country and to think through the consequences of that, and you haven’t, and you don’t,” said Carlson. “And I’m saying that’s reckless.”
The contentious interview comes as the U.S. considers potential involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran.
Cruz has been a proponent of U.S. intervention, saying in a recent interview with Fox News that “it is very much in the interest of America to see regime change” in Iran.”
Carlson warned the U.S. against getting involved with the Israel-Iran conflict.
“We should be cautious about entering into more foreign wars that don’t help us when our country is dying,” said Carlson.
Carlson also claimed that U.S. intervention could “end the Trump Presidency.”
President Donald Trump said he will decide whether to take action against Iran in the next two weeks.
“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiation that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go in the next two weeks,” said Trump in a statement delivered by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Iran has been involved in negotiations with the U.S. to curb its nuclear program. Trump has urged Iran to accept a deal to prevent further escalation of its conflict with Israel. However, talks have stalled after Iranian officials rejected the latest U.S. offer.
Carlson’s full two-hour interview with Cruz aired on Wednesday.
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