In his first interview with American media since the end of the war, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed that Israel attempted to assassinate him. Speaking with Tucker Carlson, just ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, Pezeshkian said, “They tried, but they failed.”
When asked directly by Carlson if Israel had attempted to kill him, Pezeshkian confirmed, adding, “I’m not afraid to sacrifice my life for my country, for my country’s freedom. But will it bring security and peace to the region? It will only bring more bloodshed.”
According to Pezeshkian, “It was not the United States that was behind the attempt on my life. It was Israel. I was at a meeting, we were discussing how to move forward, and thanks to the intelligence and spies they had, they tried to bomb the area where the gathering was held. God decides who lives and who dies. We are not afraid to become martyrs.”
He also claimed that Iran never supported attempts to assassinate Trump—despite reports suggesting otherwise during the presidential campaign. The interview, which lasted nearly 30 minutes, included a statement from Pezeshkian that Tehran has “no problem” resuming talks with the United States.
During the conversation with Carlson—once seen as Trump’s “house journalist” before he turned sharply against the president’s support for Israel’s military action—Pezeshkian also addressed the war in Gaza. “Netanyahu is killing women and children in Gaza, bombing schools and hospitals, civilians and residential areas. It’s genocide. They blocked the entry of humanitarian aid. That’s affected how my country and the entire region view Israel. We didn’t attack Israel. They attacked us.”
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Following the outbreak of war with Iran, Carlson—whom some have called the de facto foreign minister of the Trump administration and the articulate voice of nationalist isolationism within the Republican Party—publicly criticized Trump for supporting Israeli military action.
Carlson, the most influential MAGA-aligned media figure outside the White House, argued in his daily newsletter that fears over an Iranian bomb were unfounded. He warned that conflict with the Islamic Republic would be a “deep betrayal” of Trump’s base and could mark the end of his second term. “What happens now will define Donald Trump’s presidency,” he wrote. “U.S. support for Israel must end. Let Israel conduct its military affairs on its own. If Israel wants to fight this war, it has every right to do so. It’s a sovereign country. But not with American backing.”