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President Trump publicly embraced responsibility for the campaign, portraying the mission as a historic moment in the alliance between the United States and Israel. His administration framed the strike as a textbook example of the “peace through strength” doctrine—an approach conservatives argue has deterred global threats for decades.
Senior members of Trump’s national security team echoed that message. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both defended the operation and emphasized the strategic partnership with Israel as a cornerstone of American foreign policy.
Hegseth previously revealed that Operation Epic Fury began directly under Trump’s command. Describing the mission in stark terms, he called it “the most lethal, most complex, and most-precision aerial operation in history.” He also issued a blunt warning to Tehran, promising that if Iran harmed Americans, “we will hunt you down, and we will kill you.”
For his part, Trump has rejected suggestions that Israel forced the United States into the conflict. During a press exchange earlier this month, the president insisted that the decision to strike Iran was based on intelligence indicating an imminent attack.
Reporter:
“Mr. President, did Israel force your hand to launch these strikes against Iran? Did that get the United States into this war?”
President Trump:
“No, I might have forced their hand. You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack. If we didn’t do it, they were going to attack first. I felt strongly about that.
We have great negotiators—great people, people who do this very successfully and have done it all their lives very successfully. Based on the way the negotiations were going, I think they were going to attack first, and I didn’t want that to happen.
So, if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand. But Israel was ready, and we were ready, and we’ve had a very, very powerful impact.”
While the administration has portrayed the operation as a decisive victory, Carlson’s remarks struck a dramatically different tone.
Speaking during the Redacted interview, the former Fox host argued that those responsible for launching the attack should potentially face prison and warned that the United States has lost credibility as a diplomatic power.
Carlson also suggested the conflict could spiral out of control and expressed concern that escalation might eventually involve weapons of mass destruction. He criticized the close coordination with Israel and alleged that Trump faced significant pressure from Israeli leaders while making the decision.
The conservative commentator also downplayed concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and floated the unusual suggestion that the United States should take control of Israel’s nuclear facilities if tensions worsen.
Below is the full transcript from the discussion:
Tucker Carlson:
“So, like, who brokers the peace here? It’s not the U.S. We don’t have diplomacy anymore. We’re so discredited. Our diplomacy is seen by the rest of the world as, like, a cover for war. This is all, like, a sneaky attempt to, you know, launch a sneak attack. And whether that’s true or not—you know, you pray it’s not true—but everyone thinks it’s true, so we’re not going to negotiate an end to this. I don’t know. The losses for the U.S. are so sad that I just can’t take a victory lap. I just feel depressed.”
Clayton Morris:
“Yeah, it is absolutely depressing, because so many pieces are moving at once with the U.S. economy right now. Fertilizer prices are skyrocketing. Food prices are set to go up. We’re already seeing inflation numbers over the past 24 hours going up. So all of this is going to be hitting the American family pretty hard, who was already hit very, very hard.
And we just got this statement. I want to read it to you. I’m sure you’ve already seen it. Iran’s new leader, Khamenei, just released the first statement as supreme leader, releasing it to Iranian television. It was read—he didn’t appear on video or anything like that.
But among the points that he made: the Strait of Hormuz will be shut down forever until the United States begs, basically. We will not ignore the blood of our martyrs. They will be avenged—basically, an eye for an eye. We are not an enemy of the countries around us.
We’re only targeting American bases, he said, but bombs are raining on your neighbors anyway as a result of that. Close all U.S. bases in the region, or we will attack them all.
And he calls for total Iranian unity. He says, “We will not forgo avenging the blood of the martyrs. Every citizen killed by the enemy is a case for vengeance in itself.” So it doesn’t sound like they’re done, even though President Trump yesterday said, “We’ve won this war.” It doesn’t sound like this is over anytime soon.”
Tucker Carlson:
“I mean, well, it certainly doesn’t. And Trump yesterday suggested we might use nuclear weapons in Iran. So no, those are escalatory remarks. They’re not, you know, consensus-seeking remarks.
However, you know, that country—maybe not this country, but certainly Iran—seems to have lots of different factions. And of course, you know, they just threw the board in the air. A lot of people were killed. Like, it’s not exactly clear who’s running the country, who’s making the key decisions. But my impression is there are different factions, and some, you know, seek some sort of negotiated settlement sooner rather than later.
But clearly, there are a lot of people there, after all the civilian deaths, after the killing of their religious leader, and after the failed diplomacy, who, you know, want to fight till the end. The question is: What does that mean?
And I just worry that, you know, Israel is going to find itself in a position where, you know, it uses weapons of mass destruction. I’m not even attacking Israel, by the way. It’s the size of New Jersey, so you can see why they would feel threatened. I don’t think they should ever use nuclear weapons.
I think the United States should tell the Netanyahu government, absolutely not. In fact, we’re going to secure Dimona. We’re going to secure your nuclear sites.
You’re not allowed to use nuclear weapons, because that could begin a cascade that ends the world. So you’re not allowed to do that, actually, Netanyahu.
But I do understand how, if their cities are getting bombed and the United States can’t stop that from happening, and they run out of missile defense or adequate missile defense, and maybe the bombing moves to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv—I mean, you can see this getting super radical, which is one of the main arguments I made against starting it in the first place. You don’t control it once it starts. There are other players here.
I didn’t realize it was going to be a joint operation with a country that believes in Amalek. You know, whoever made that decision should be in jail.
When was the last time the U.S. military partnered, on a decision-making level, with another country in a war?
Like, that’s crazy. You can have symbolic partners, but you can’t have a partner who has co-equal decision-making authority, because your interests are different. And you could wind up harming your own interests, and those of the world, very gravely. So you don’t do that, because you can’t make a clear decision.
And I think that we’re not far from that right now. Like, their goals have always been different from our goals. Trump was convinced they had a nuclear program.
I thought that was silly, but he seemed to believe it. He was also under immense pressure from the Israelis to do this, because they were going to do it anyway, as the Secretary of State revealed. That’s true.
But I don’t think there was any evidence that Trump wanted, you know, to commit ground troops to Iran or some protracted war over, you know, the killing of a religious leader or Amalek or these weird end-times fantasies that, honestly, both sides are engaging in—the Israelis especially, just being honest. Amalek? Are you kidding? How can—by the way, Western civilization has no place for Amalek.”
