Tucker Carlson and Mark Levin in front of a map of Iran

Molly Butler / Media Matters

Research/Study Research/Study

The right-wing media dogfight over war with Iran

Warring factions have emerged in the MAGA media debate about whether the U.S. should get directly involved in Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities

Written by Gideon Taaffe, Chloe Simon & Noah Dowe

Research contributions from Helena Hind & Isabella Corrao

Published

As Israel’s conflict with Iran escalates into open hostilities, MAGA media figures are divided over whether the U.S. should intervene in the conflict and have resorted to attacking each other. Opponents of U.S. military intervention in Iran — like right-wing podcast host Tucker Carlson — have gone after Fox News, calling its pundits “warmongers” and claiming that pro-war talking heads have “empty, tormented personal lives.” Some right-wing figures who support war with Iran have attacked Carlson, with Fox’s Mark Levin calling his former colleague “increasingly unhinged” and claiming that anti-interventionists “have never been MAGA.” 

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  • Right-wing media draw lines in the sand over U.S. intervention in Iran as Carlson and Trump spar

    • Following Israel’s attacks on Iran and Iran’s counterattack on Israel, many right-wing media personalities have chimed in to advocate for or against U.S. military intervention. Some in right-wing media have argued this is “not our war,” while others like Fox’s Sean Hannity have said, “America doesn't have any choice but to get involved in this.” [Media Matters, 6/18/25]
    • The Trumpist right, usually united against Democrats, have split into “rival factions” over the conflict and are fighting “over the true meaning of an ‘America First’ foreign policy.” The isolationists include online talk show host Tucker Carlson and War Room host Steve Bannon. On the other side, Fox News fixtures like Sean Hannity and Mark Levin are making the case for the U.S. to intervene directly in the conflict. [The Atlantic, 6/17/25]
    • After Carlson suggested Trump was “complicit in the act of war” against Iran and that the conflict “will define Donald Trump’s presidency,” Trump fired back, calling him “kooky Carlson” and emphasizing that “IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON.” [The Hill, 6/16/25, 6/17/25]

  • Some in right-wing media are calling out Fox News for being “warmongers” and having “amnesia” about previous wars in the Middle East

    • Tucker Carlson called Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Fox Corp.’s Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch “warmongers.” Carlson posted: “The real divide isn’t between people who support Israel and people who support Iran or the Palestinians. The real divide is between those who casually encourage violence, and those who seek to prevent it — between warmongers and peacemakers. Who are the warmongers? They would include anyone who’s calling Donald Trump today to demand air strikes and other direct US military involvement in a war with Iran. On that list: Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Rupert Murdoch, Ike Perlmutter and Miriam Adelson. At some point they will all have to answer for this, but you should know their names now.” [Twitter/X, 6/13/25]
    • On War Room, Carlson also said, “My temptation in a moment like this is to go low and to note that a lot of the people pushing for this stuff have really empty, tormented personal lives.” Carlson added, “This is a way to kind of feel powerful. I mean, nothing makes you feel more powerful than killing other people.” [Real America's Voice, War Room, 6/16/25] 
    • On Jones’ show, far-right media personality Nick Fuentes questioned if Fox host Greg Gutfeld has “amnesia” for arguing “we need to forget” the legacy of Middle East wars and “trust Trump.” Jones then attacked Levin for his “sophomoric” comments calling Jones and Carlson a “lovely couple." [Infowars, The Alex Jones Show, 6/17/25]
    • Bannon attacked “the same crowd at Fox News” for “sounding the war toxins” and arguing that “we have to go on offense.” Bannon: “When you start making decisions that are predicated upon the assumption that America is going to come in not just for defense but for offensive because the same crowd at Fox all weekend has been sounding the war toxins, ‘America's got to go on offense, we have to go on offense, we have to support — we've got the equipment, we've got the pilots, we have the refueling, … we have to be there.’ No. We have to make decisions that put America first.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 6/16/25]

  • Other personalities have attacked Carlson for being “increasingly unhinged” and shamed “isolationists” for trying to “co-opt” MAGA politics

    • Mark Levin reacted to Carlson’s disapproval for war with Iran, calling him “increasingly unhinged” and “a special pleader for all kinds of evil, genocidal, maniacs.” Levin said, “He’s defending a country that has killed American soldiers. Israel’s taken them on. Israel took on Hezbollah that killed American soldiers. A whole barracks of marines. And I could go on and on and on. So Tucker Carlson is an apologist. He’s an appeaser. He’s actually worse. He's a special pleader for all kinds of evil, genocidal, maniacs. And he’s not alone.” [Westwood One, The Mark Levin Show, 6/13/25]
    • Levin later wrote an op-ed in the New York Post attacking “isolationists” on the right, writing, “These reprobates have never been MAGA.” The op-ed is titled, “Isolationism is the same as appeasement – and it’s keeping Trump, Netanyahu from transforming the Middle East.” Levin also claimed, “The isolationists, such as ‘Chatsworth Qatarlson’ (Tucker Carlson), are turning on our president, as they’ve spent months demeaning Netanyahu. They prefer the likes of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who apparently is more MAGA than Trump. They wind up turning themselves into pretzels, actually characterizing the Iranian regime as oppressed and victimized.” [The New York Post, 6/16/25]
    • Fox contributor Ari Fleischer called Carlson “a carnival barker and a clown” whose “entire career was marked by lurching from one cause to the other with no ideological consistency.” [Twitter/X, 6/16/25] 
    • Sean Hannity accused isolationists on the right of trying to “co-opt” the MAGA movement. Hannity claimed, “Donald Trump has never been an isolationist,” adding later, “People that can't seem to understand that kind of puzzle me. But it's not up for them to decide what Donald Trump's foreign policy or how to define the MAGA movement but it looks like they are trying to co-opt it.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/17/25]
    • Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro said that Carlson’s arguments on Iran are not “rooted in reality, rooted in rationality at this point.” He also said, “President Trump calls Tucker Carlson kooky Tucker, which again, I think is a very, very good descriptor of Tucker Carlson at this point. Let’s just say that he has pushed a bunch of theories that are specious in the extreme, unbased in evidence or reason.” [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 6/17/25] 
    • Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany compared Bannon and his allies who are advocating for “just sitting back and taking it easy” to “Biden’s foreign policy.” She added later, “America first is not sitting in a beach chair and using words. It’s taking decisive action when we can take out Fordo with one swoop of an airplane.” Fordo is a fuel enrichment plant in Iran. [Fox News, The Five, 6/17/25; CNN, 6/18/25]
    • Newsmax host Rob Schmitt told viewers not to “fall for Tucker and Bannon, as much as you probably love them.” Citing a statement from National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard in which she said “too many people in the media don’t care to actually read what I said” about Iran, Schmitt argued she was “probably talking about Tucker and Bannon.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 6/17/25]