Tucker Carlson and Mark Levin Clash Over Trump’s Iran Peace Strategy
Tensions are flaring within the conservative media sphere as two powerhouse voices—Tucker Carlson and Mark Levin—find themselves on opposite ends of President Donald J. Trump’s bold push for peace in the Middle East.
At the heart of the rift is the Trump administration’s current diplomatic overtures to Iran—efforts that have drawn fire from some neoconservative corners of the GOP, including Fox News host Mark Levin. Carlson, a staunch advocate for restrained foreign policy and longtime Trump loyalist, is pushing back hard against what he views as dangerous saber-rattling.
In an exclusive sit-down with The Daily Mail, Carlson addressed reports that Levin met privately with President Trump and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in an attempt to derail any prospective deal with Iran.
“It’s amazing how much old people love wars,” Carlson said, in a blunt jab directed at Levin’s hawkish posture.
Levin has consistently attacked the administration’s efforts to re-engage Tehran, accusing Trump’s diplomatic team of strategic naïveté. He’s far from alone. Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch has echoed similar concerns through his editorial pages at The New York Post, which has published several pieces warning against trusting Iran’s regime under any circumstances.
Carlson, who has been one of the few prominent voices within the conservative movement willing to question military interventionism, isn’t backing down. He took to X (formerly Twitter) to call out what he sees as dishonest advocacy for conflict:
“Mark Levin was at the White House today, lobbying for war with Iran,” Carlson wrote. “To be clear, Levin has no plans to fight in this or any other war. He’s demanding that American troops do it.”
Carlson warned that dragging the U.S. into another conflict would be a betrayal of the America First agenda. “A war with Iran would amount to a profound betrayal of [Trump’s] supporters. It would end his presidency,” he said. “That may explain why so many of Trump’s enemies are advocating for it.”
After Politico published details of the closed-door meeting, Levin responded with characteristic fury, dismissing the reporting as propaganda and denying any orchestrated campaign to push Trump toward military escalation.
“He and I are very close friends,” Levin said of Trump. “The president knows exactly where I stand on Iran, and he told me he knows exactly where I stand on Iran because he watches my shows on Fox.”
“What I am not doing and what I would not do to Donald Trump,” Levin added, “is lead a lobbying campaign of hawks.”
But things quickly got personal.
Levin lashed out at what he described as an “isolationist cabal” inside Trump-world—strongly suggesting Carlson was behind the leaked meeting details. “Levin won’t take your crap,” he fumed. “He doesn’t like bullies. I’m more than happy to engage with you.”
“I know who the leakers are,” he said. “It’s the isolationists, they’re trying to undermine the president and what they’re actually doing, America, is they’re making his job 1,000 times more difficult.”
Levin also made headlines with a highly controversial remark: “By the way, neocon is a pejorative for Jew. Unbelievable,” he posted.
Carlson, clearly taken aback by the accusation, responded with restraint during his Daily Mail interview: “I worked with Mark. I’ve always gotten along with Mark, always been nice to me. But yeah, he just accused Trump, the Trump administration, of anti-Semitism for calling someone a neocon.”
He continued, “[H]e accused Steve Witkoff of anti-Semitism. And I just want to say, I think Steve Witkoff is, if there’s anyone who is, you know, has the hand of God on him, it seems to me. I sort of overstate it, but I feel that way.”
Carlson added, “We’ve reached peak crazy. I mean, I think Witkoff is Jewish, right?”
Levin doubled down again on his syndicated radio show, framing the use of the term “neocon” as coded anti-Semitism. “Why do they keep saying neocon? Because many of the neoconservatives were old-time, left-wing, Democrat Jews,” Levin said. “They’re not gonna say the Jews this and the Jews that, so they use neocon.”
He closed with a heated warning: “Do whatever you want, it’s perfectly fine by me. But don’t screw with me, you little bastard, by twisting my words. And you should have picked up the phone because I would have cleared things up for you.”