New York Post, on Iran, 2 November 2026

3.0out of 10Minor

Tucker Carlson that Trump could nuke Iran within days

Tap a highlight to see why it matters.3 findings

Conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson wildly claimed Sunday that President Trump was preparing to launch a nuclear weapon against Iran in the coming days — as he that the administration were puppets for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Carlson, who has come under fire in the past for antisemitic statements , claimed in a lengthy post on X that Netanyahu was pressuring Trump to nuke the Islamic Republic. 3 Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson has repeated baseless claims that the US is preparing to drop nuclear bombs on Iran at the behest of Israel throughout the war.

Aristide Economopoulos “Bibi calls Trump about it every day,” Carlson wrote , citing a supposed “informed observer.” The post suggested that Netanyahu, under pressure from failing to secure the majority in last week’s Israeli elections, now sees war as his only means of political survival. To that end, Netanyahu is allegedly trying to convince Trump to drop a nuclear bomb on Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, and presumably immune to any of America’s bunker-buster bombs, Carlson claimed.

Explore More US and Iran resume ‘very intensive’ peace talks on ending war — as Trump threatens new strikes Iranians have left Doha talks, draft proposal for US deal being circulated, official says Iranian ‘ghost fleet’ filmed evading US blockade en route to China, UANI says Carlson also said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were following Netanyahu’s lead, as well as leaders of the Democratic Party, without providing any evidence.

, which garnered more than 53.1 million views on X, appeared to capitalize on Trump’s own statements over the weekend that the US could take out Pickaxe Mountain “within 10 minutes.” The president, however, has publicly rejected the use of nuclear weapons in the war, stating earlier this month that America has no need for it in place of conventional bombs and economic pressures on Iran. 3 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump have been in talks as the US weighs resuming strikes on Iran.

Getty Images Regardless of Trump’s position, Carlson has repeatedly made claims that the US was dangerously close to firing nuclear weapons at Iran throughout the war. “We’re moving toward the use of weapons of indiscriminate mass destruction, possible nuclear weapons,” he said on an April 1st broadcast. “Everything hangs in the balance right now. This is not hysteria.” Carlson repeated such claims at least four more times since then, including during an Oct. 15 broadcast following Trump’s threat to drop the “mother of all bombs” on Iran . 3 Trump has threatened to bombard Iran at strength seen when the war first began.

AFP via Getty Images But Trump dismissed the claims and said the term referred to America’s larger bombs, not a nuclear missile. The president has previously used the term to refer to large-scale bombardments against America’s enemies during his first term. Trump and Carlson had a public falling out last year when the president kicked the former Fox News host out of his MAGA movement over repeated criticism of the war in Iran.

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What we found (3)

The New York Post reports Tucker Carlson's claim that Netanyahu is pressing Trump to use a nuclear weapon on Iran, and it rightly notes that Carlson gave no evidence and that Trump has ruled out nuclear use. In its own voice, though, the Post calls Pickaxe Mountain the regime's secret nuclear facility. Carlson and Washington both put that as an intelligence claim or a belief. The Post also loads its narration with mockery: wildly, dementedly, the podcaster who cried nukes, the rant.

  1. States one side's claim as fact

    Minor

    “the regime’s secret nuclear facility buried underneath a mountain”

    Why this matters
    The words "the regime’s secret nuclear facility" describe Pickaxe Mountain as an established Iranian nuclear site in the Post's own appositive. The closing "Carlson claimed" governs the alleged pressure, not this description.
    The impression it gives
    A reader believes it is settled fact that Pickaxe Mountain is a secret Iranian nuclear facility.
    The context
    Carlson himself put this as an Israeli intelligence claim. Washington's position is only that the site may host an underground nuclear facility. The Post drops both qualifications and turns a contested intelligence claim into its own fact.

    How we know

    Show it in the article

  2. Uses a loaded word

    Minor

    “wildly claims”

    Why this matters
    The headline adds "wildly" to Carlson's claim, a verdict in the Post's own voice.
    The impression it gives
    A reader is told how to judge the claim before reading anything about it.
    The context
    Other outlets reported the same post with a plain verb. The body's real support for doubt is that Carlson gave no evidence and Trump ruled out nuclear use. The adjective adds nothing to that.

    How we know

    Show it in the article

    “The podcaster who cried nukes.”

    Why this matters
    The Post opens with a mocking line in its own narration. The line casts Carlson as the boy who cried wolf before any facts are given.
    The impression it gives
    A reader starts from ridicule rather than from what Carlson said and what is known.
    The context
    This is a news report. The repeated predictions the line mocks are set out later as facts, which make the point without the jibe.

    How we know

    • Elsewhere in the article“Carlson repeated such claims at least four more times”

    Show it in the article

    “dementedly suggested”

    Why this matters
    The word "dementedly" describes a named person's statement as a product of mental disorder, in the Post's own voice.
    The impression it gives
    A reader is invited to dismiss Carlson as mentally unsound rather than weigh his claim.
    The context
    Nothing in the article supports a judgement about Carlson's state of mind. Other outlets reported the same claim about Netanyahu's influence without such a word.

    How we know

    Show it in the article

    “The rant”

    Why this matters
    The Post calls a written post on X "the rant" in its own narration.
    The impression it gives
    A reader takes the post as an unhinged outburst.
    The context
    The Post itself describes the item as a lengthy post on X. "Rant" is a verdict, not a description.

    How we know

    • Elsewhere in the article“claimed in a lengthy post on X”

    Show it in the article

  3. Uses a loaded word

    Minor

    “the regime’s”

    Why this matters
    The Post calls Iran's government "the regime" in its own narration, with no attribution.
    The impression it gives
    A reader absorbs a delegitimising label for Iran's government as neutral description.
    The context
    Carlson's own words, as quoted elsewhere, refer to "the Iranian government". "Regime" is the Post's addition.

    How we know

    Show it in the article

How other outlets reported it

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