Fox News host Tucker Carlson has privately advised President Donald Trump on Iran, The Daily Beast reports.
Even as Trump has stacked his administration with Iran hawks like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, Carlson has privately advised Trump in recent weeks against taking military action against Iran and bashed the “hawkish members” of the administration, according to the report.
Carlson is a longtime critic of US intervention in the Middle East, recently warning viewers that a war with Iran would not be “in anyone’s interest” and chiding Bolton.
Carlson appears to have influenced Trump:
Earlier this week, Carlson cited Pompeo’s “misplaced certainty” that Iran was involved in a recent attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and compared it to the faulty intelligence the Bush administration used to justify invading Iraq.
“We’re still paying a price for that,” Carlson said.
The president appears to have listened. In an interview on Monday, after weeks of hyping the Iran threat, Trump dismissed the oil tanker attacks as “very minor.”
Carlson blasted Bolton last month:
Carlson took issue with Bolton’s hawkish tendencies on his show last month.
"More than anything in the world, National Security Adviser John Bolton would love to have a war with Iran," Carlson said. "It would be like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and his birthday wrapped into one."
"How is a war with Iran in America's interests in any way?" he asked.
