Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is raising concerns that a nuclear-armed Iran could easily kill millions of Americans with a surprise attack on the U.S. electric grid, one of a handful of worries the Pentagon has recently focused on.
Cruz, who supports President Donald Trump’s embrace of Israel’s military campaign to stop Iran’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs, warned that the terrorist nation could launch a simple nuclear-armed satellite, fly it over the East Coast, and hit the detonate button as it passes over the electric grid, frying it in an electromagnetic pulse attack.
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“I’ve seen the projections. An EMP that took down the electrical grid could result in, over time, millions of deaths in America,” Cruz said on his podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz.”
A congressional “EMP Commission” has warned that those in the attack zone would die within a year from a lack of food, healthcare, and chaos.
I’ve had people ask me if this conflict is World War 3.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 16, 2025
The short answer? No.
We explain on Verdict: https://t.co/H9zHMt0L5C pic.twitter.com/R3K9CeTYG9
“Nine of 10 Americans are dead from starvation, disease, and societal collapse. The United States of America ceases to exist,” warned the report.
“An extended blackout today could result in the death of a large fraction of the American people through the effects of societal collapse, disease, and starvation,” added the executive summary.
Cruz correctly noted that Iran is among the countries that the Pentagon believes are planning for an EMP attack. The others are Russia, China, and North Korea.
“They would not need an ICBM to do it if they could get it on a ship or a container and detonated in a port anywhere in America. Or, I’ll tell you, one enormous risk, they could put it on a satellite that is orbiting over, say, the eastern seaboard, and detonate a nuclear weapon, which would set off an EMP and take down the electrical grid,” he warned.
He also said that Iran’s effort to build an intercontinental ballistic missile has only one goal: attacking America.
“Do they have a reliable ICBM that could carry a nuclear weapon from Iran to Manhattan? Probably not, although they’re trying to develop them. They have an ICBM program. And it’s worth noting, you do not need an ICBM to get to Israel from Iran. A ballistic missile is sufficient. An intercontinental ballistic missile is designed to travel much further. One hundred percent of the reason Iran has an ICBM program is to carry a nuclear warhead to America. Israel is not the target of their ICBMs, America is,” added Cruz on the show co-hosted by Ben Ferguson.
Cruz is a loud voice of support for Trump’s backing of Israel and his warnings to Iran to make a nuclear deal. Several other MAGA conservatives, however, stand against U.S. involvement, notably Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
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On his podcast, Cruz said that Republican critics of Trump do not buy that stopping Iran is part of the America First Trump agenda.
“America first means peace through strength, and stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon keeps us out of war,” he said.