Tucker Carlson Says Netanyahu Is Pressing Trump to Use a Nuclear Weapon on Iran
The commentator says Israel’s leader is pushing for an attack on a mountain site in Iran. Nothing in official statements supports the idea that nuclear weapons are on the table.
WASHINGTON, Nov 2 – American commentator Tucker Carlson has claimed that President Donald Trump could be days away from ordering a nuclear strike on Iran. He claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the one pushing him toward it.
The conservative commentator made the claim in a long post on X over the weekend. In it, he wrote that the administration “may be within days of launching a nuclear strike on Iran.” He gave no evidence that can be checked.
Carlson says the target is Pickax Mountain in central Iran. He says Israeli intelligence thinks Iran has started enriching uranium there again, in tunnels deep under the rock. Iran says there is no nuclear work at the site.
His case rests on the mountain itself. He says the tunnels sit under about 300 feet of granite, and that no regular bomb the United States has can reach them. So in his view, a nuclear weapon is the only way to destroy the site.
He says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pressing hard for that. He quoted an unnamed source who said Netanyahu calls Trump about it every day.
Carlson also put a date on it. He says Trump is likely to decide by November 7. For now, he says, the president is holding back. He is listening to Vice President JD Vance and his envoy Steve Witkoff, who both think a deal with Iran can still be done, according to Carlson.
He tied the push to Israeli politics. He says that after Israel’s recent election, Netanyahu can’t build a government with the 61 seats he needs unless Trump steps in to help. In Carlson’s view, that leaves the Israeli leader needing both the war and Trump. Israel has not responded.
The post named several top American officials. Carlson says Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants the war to return, and so does Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of United States Central Command. He says both are against a deal. He also says Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe are siding with Israel. He even says former President Barack Obama spoke out against the peace deal now being drafted in Doha. None of these claims has been confirmed.
There was one more claim about the Gulf. Carlson says Netanyahu made a secret trip to Abu Dhabi on September 27. He says the Israeli leader asked the United Arab Emirates to back a final attack on Iran, and the Emiratis said no. That has not been confirmed either.
Much of the post was a warning. Carlson says Gulf economies are already on the verge of breaking after eight months of war, and so are world markets for oil and fertilizer. He pointed to damage to oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. A nuclear blast at the mountain, he says, could spread fallout into Gulf waters and threaten drinking water for about 100 million people.
He also warned of a chain reaction. He says Russia has told at least two governments that if the United States uses a nuclear weapon on Iran, Moscow would feel free to use one on Ukraine. He says other rivals with nuclear arms could follow. And he says that since February, the administration has quietly changed its rules to make it easier to use smaller nuclear weapons first.
So what is actually known? The news site Axios has reported that Netanyahu wants a strike on Iran soon after Tuesday’s midterm elections in the United States. It reported that Trump would rather give talks more time. Those reports say nothing about nuclear weapons.
The talks are genuine. Negotiators are working toward an agreement in Doha, and Carlson himself wrote that a deal is possible—though not easy, given how difficult Iran’s leaders can be to negotiate with.
Iran’s Supreme Leader has warned the United States and Israel against launching any new attacks.
The post spread quickly and divided opinion. Some critics dismissed it as a hoax, accusing Carlson of trying to frighten voters ahead of the midterms. Others shared it as a warning.
Carlson, a former Fox News host, has long opposed American military action against Iran and has publicly clashed with Trump over the issue before.
The White House has not commented.
