A long-brewing conflict between former Fox News personalities appears on the verge of erupting as influential media figures begin pressuring President Donald Trump over his approach to a potential peace agreement with Iran.
Tucker Carlson, in an exclusive interview, responded to recent reports that Fox News host Mark Levin met with Trump and Steve Witkoff, the president’s key envoy on Middle Eastern affairs, to dissuade them from pursuing peace with the volatile Islamic regime. Levin has frequently criticized the Trump administration on-air for its efforts to broker such an agreement.
“It’s amazing how much old people love wars,” Carlson said, a slighting reference to Levin and his war-hawk stance with respect to Iran.
Levin isn’t the only major figure at Fox to express disapproval over Trump’s diplomatic efforts. Rupert Murdoch, the network’s founder, is also said to be against the deal, with the New York Post—which he owns—publishing several opinion pieces casting doubt on Iran’s willingness to engage in honest negotiations over its nuclear ambitions.
Carlson, who previously shared airtime with Levin, has built his reputation as a staunchly anti-war advocate and a Trump loyalist who firmly opposes deploying U.S. troops to the Middle East. His political perspective was shaped during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—conflicts that significantly influenced public opinion against American involvement abroad.
He had earlier warned Trump about relying too heavily on Levin’s advice after discovering his former coworker had recently visited the White House.
“Mark Levin was at the White House today, lobbying for war with Iran,” Carlson wrote on X. “To be clear, Levin has no plans to fight in this or any other war. He’s demanding that American troops do it.”
Carlson contended that Levin’s “hyperventilating” over Iran’s nuclear ambitions was simply a smokescreen intended to justify redeploying U.S. soldiers to the region.
“A war with Iran would amount to a profound betrayal of his supporters. It would end his presidency. That may explain why so many of Trump’s enemies are advocating for it,” he added.
Following Politico’s report on Levin’s meeting with Trump and Witkoff, Levin hit back, dismissing the outlet as a tool of establishment media.
“He and I are very close friends,” Levin said about Trump, adding, “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.”
Politico is “a group of people who were pushing propaganda,” he added. “What I am not doing and what I would not do to Donald Trump is lead a lobbying campaign of hawks.”
In a strongly worded statement, Levin accused a non-interventionist “cabal” — including Carlson, whom he derisively referred to as Chatsworth Osborne Jr., a bow tie-wearing television character — of leaking information about his private meeting with Trump.
“Levin won’t take your crap,” he said, referring to Carlson. “He doesn’t like bullies, I’m more than happy to engage with you.”
He claimed Carlson was “constantly lobbying the White House” to resist military escalation with Iran.
“I know who the leakers are,” he said and added, “it’s the isolationists who are doing it, it’s them, they’re doing it, 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, who is Jewish, charged that some of his opponents were turning the term “neoconservative” into a veiled antisemitic slur.
“By the way, neocon is a pejorative for Jew. Unbelievable,” he wrote.
Speaking with the Daily Mail, Carlson said his former colleague was deeply off-base in his assessment.
“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,” Carlson said, adding, “[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.”
Witkoff, also part of Trump’s peace-leaning advisory circle, has reportedly become a target of Levin’s criticism for promoting diplomacy.
“We’ve reached peak crazy, I mean, I think Witkoff is Jewish, right?”
On his radio show, Levin lashed out, branding Carlson a “schmuck” and expressing frustration that he hadn’t reached out privately before going public.
“Why do they keep saying neocon? Because many of the neoconservatives were old-time, left-wing, Democrat Jews,” he said on Tuesday.
“Any of the people that use that phrase either don’t know what they’re talking about, but in the magazines and on the internet, they know it. So they’re not going to say the Jews are dragging us into a war, they’ll say Israel is, Netanyahu is. They’re not gonna say the Jews this and the Jews-, so they use neocon.”
“Do whatever you want, it’s perfectly fine by me. But don’t screw with me, you little bastard, by twisting my words,” Levin fired back at Carlson. “And you should have picked up the phone because I would have cleared things up for you,” he exclaimed.
