Tucker Carlson has triggered a furious MAGA civil war with a terrifying claim about Donald Trump’s supposed plans to launch a nuclear attack on Iran after Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Carlson, 57, claimed Sunday that the president was facing intense pressure from Israel to authorize a nuclear attack on a suspected underground Iranian enrichment facility. And he warned the U.S. president could do so as early as the weekend, four days after Americans head to the polls for what many Republicans fear will be a horror show.
The unverified claims have caused bitter divisions between Trump supporters who fear another disastrous escalation of the Iran war and those accusing Carlson of deliberately spreading misinformation before the election. One labeled it a “hoax” and called Carlson “a threat to our national security.”
“Under pressure from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Trump administration may be within days of launching a nuclear strike on Iran,” the Fox News host-turned-podcaster wrote in an explosive X post.
The ominous warning—for which Carlson offered no independently verifiable evidence—comes as speculation about what Trump, 80, might do after Tuesday’s vote boils over.
The president has been considering renewed military action against Iran, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushing for strikes soon after the election, as Axios had reported hours earlier.
He has spoken of “big surprises” coming around the elections, and predicted the conflict would finish “probably right after the midterms.”
Carlson—who has been an outspoken critic of Trump’s Iran war—has been warning that the administration was considering such a move throughout the year, and there is no evidence that it is planning to deploy nuclear weapons.
But this time, the former Trump loyalist added more detail, which led some commentators to take it seriously.
Carlson said the intended target was Pickaxe Mountain, a suspected underground nuclear facility in central Iran. He alleged that the tunnels were buried beneath 300 feet of granite, beyond the reach of America’s conventional arsenal. “The only military option is a nuclear strike,” he claimed, without providing evidence for that assessment.
On Saturday, the president specifically identified Pickaxe Mountain as a facility the U.S. could attack, claiming his military could complete the operation in minutes, though he made no suggestion that nuclear weapons would be required.
Carlson added that an unidentified source had told him Netanyahu—who is facing a highly uncertain political future after Israel’s Oct. 27 election left him without a parliamentary majority—was contacting Trump daily to lobby for the attack.
“Bibi calls Trump about it every day,” Carlson quoted an unnamed “informed observer” as saying, claiming Netanyahu was counting on Trump’s intervention to help preserve his premiership.
“To his credit, he’s hesitating,” Carlson wrote of Trump, claiming that Vice President JD Vance and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff were trying to persuade the president to pursue a diplomatic solution. He alleged that Trump would decide by this Saturday.
Trump’s June 2025 strikes against Iran, last January’s operation to capture Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, and the Feb. 28 opening salvo on Iran all took place on a Saturday.
Carlson predicted devastating consequences if Trump were to use nuclear weapons, warning that radioactive fallout could contaminate regional water supplies and spark wider nuclear exchanges. “After the first nuclear strike, World War Three is inevitable,” he declared.
Former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene responded with a furious warning about the consequences if Trump carried out such an attack. “Trump would be committing crimes against humanity. And so would everyone who goes along with this. This cannot be allowed.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, whose expertise covers the Middle East, urged people not to dismiss the warning, arguing Carlson had strong contacts within Trump’s administration.
But far-right activist and Trump adviser Laura Loomer was among several conservative commentators who accused Carlson of inventing the story to undermine Republicans ahead of Tuesday’s vote, calling it a “hoax,” adding: “Tucker is such a liar and a threat to our national security.”
Carlson’s extraordinary speculation has also become entangled with a separate conspiracy theory involving Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, 53, who was hospitalized after suffering a stroke on Saturday.
The Connecticut Democrat had claimed on Oct. 29 that he and other lawmakers had received briefings about “insane” potential new military action against Iran after the election, which he warned could trigger further escalation.
While there is no suggestion of foul play, Murphy’s hospitalization three days later has prompted conspiratorial suggestions online that it was linked to his outspoken criticism. “Careful now,” commentator Hadi posted, suggesting Carlson might suffer a similar sudden medical emergency.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House, the Pentagon, Tucker Carlson, and Netanyahu’s office for comment.
