An interview between former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz turned into a tense exchange, a preview shows.
The viral clip from the full interview, which airs on The Tucker Carlson Show on Wednesday, June 18, highlights a heated moment between the two conservatives, who began yelling at each other about Iran.
Carlson quizzed Cruz about Iran's population, and the senator was unsure of the answer.
"You don't know the population of the country you seek to topple?" Carlson, 56, said before asking about the ethnicity of its residents.
As Cruz, 54, began to answer, Carlson interjected and accused him of lacking an understanding of the nation.
"You don't know anything about Iran," Carlson said as the men quickly spoke over each other. "You're a senator who's calling for the overthrow of the government and you don't know anything about the country."
"No, you don't know anything about the country. You're the one who claims they're not trying to murder Donald Trump," Cruz fired back.
Carlson denied that, then pressed Cruz about whether the U.S. is involved in Israel's military strikes on Iran. Cruz said that Israel is leading the strikes, with U.S. support, although he did not specify details of that support in the clip.
In an overnight post on X, Cruz shared a brief clip of Carlson from a previous interview during which he talked about whether Iran had been involved in attempts or plans to assassinate Trump. Cruz captioned the post, "Why does @TuckerCarlson refuse to acknowledge indisputable truth? Facts don't care about your feelings Tucker, and they certainly won't bend to your narrative."
The senator encouraged people to watch the full interview, "Where I call him out."
As the war between Iran and Israel escalates, President Trump on Wednesday avoided specifics about whether he'd use U.S. capabilities to target Iranian nuclear sites, according to The New York Times.
"I may do it," the president said. "I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do."
Satellite imagery shows Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant is tucked into a mountainous region, per CNN, with parts buried underground. The International Atomic Energy Agency said that the plant stores enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon, per Time.
Although it has not yet been used in combat, the U.S. has a bunker-busting bomb that can penetrate hundreds of feet underground before detonating, per ABC News.
As regional tensions rise in the Middle East, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned against U.S. involvement in the conflict in a video message released on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.
"Americans should know that any military involvement by the U.S. will undoubtedly result in irreparable damage to them," he said, per the AP.