


OAN Staff Blake Wolf
12:03 PM – Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Former Fox News host-turned-host of his own independently-produced program on X, Tucker Carlson and Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz engaged in a heated, back-and-forth exchange over the United States’ involvement in the Israel-Iran war.
The Tucker Carlson Network released a snippet of the interview on Tuesday prior to its Wednesday release, showcasing Carlson continuously pressing Cruz (R-Texas) over his support for a regime change in Iran.
“How many people live in Iran by the way?” Carlson questioned, to which Cruz responded, stating: “I don’t know the population.”
“You don’t know the population of the country you seek to topple?” Carlson continued. “How could you not know that?”
Carlson then went on to question if Cruz knows the ethnic makeup of the Iranian people, to which Cruz was seemingly unsure, prompting a sharp response from Carlson that led to a shouting match.
“You don’t know anything about Iran… You’re a senator who’s calling for the overthrow of the government and you don’t know anything about the country!” Carlson stated.
Additionally, in a separate clip, Carlson questioned why Cruz is seemingly “unbothered” by Israeli intelligence agencies spying on the United States.
“Does [Mossad] spy domestically on the United States?” Carlson questioned.
“Oh they probably do, and we do as well and friends and allies spy on each other and I assume all of our allies spy on us,” Cruz responded.
Following Cruz’s last assertion, Carlson seemed to be taken aback by the response, asking: “And that’s okay with you?”
“As a conservative, I assume people act in their rational self-interest,” Cruz clapped back, prompting Carlson to ask “So it’s conservative to pay people to spy on you?”
Carlson’s question is said to be referencing the approximately $3.8 billion the United States provides to Israel each year in military aid, following the 10-year Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2016.
Since the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)—covering fiscal years 2019 to 2028—the U.S. agreed to provide $38 billion. That breaks down to approximately $3.3 billion per year in FMF plus $500 million annually for missile defense—totaling $3.8 billion per year in military aid to Israel.
- $33 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF)
- $5 billion specifically for missile defense systems
Nonetheless, Cruz reiterated that all of the United States’ “friends spies on us,” prompting Carlson to cut him off, adding: “Is it in America’s interest for Israel to spy on us, including on the president?”
“It takes place, as you know, including on the president of the United States and to several presidents. And I just want to know if that’s okay and why is it okay? Wouldn’t an American lawmaker say to a client state, ‘You’re not allowed to spy on us I’m sorry I know why you want to – I’m not mad at you, but you’re not allowed to. And I don’t care for it, I don’t want to be spied on by you.’ It’s kind of weird not to say that, but you don’t seem able to say that,” Carlson added.
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