As Israeli bombs rained down on Iran on Monday, Donald Trump fired off a salvo of his own on Truth Social attacking one of his most reliable media allies.

“Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon,” Mr Trump wrote in response to remarks from the political commentator claiming he was “complicit” in Israel’s strikes.

“Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen,” Mr Trump continued, in an apparent dig at Carlson’s web show.

Despite the president’s efforts to downplay the criticism, the row is the clearest sign yet of a rift threatening to tear apart the Maga base, over the US being drawn into the brewing conflict.