Carlson slammed Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. John Cornyn over their calls to attack Iran in response to a deadly attack against U.S. military personnel.
NEWSWEEK
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson slammed two Republican senators over their social media posts appearing to call for the United States to attack Iran in retaliation for a drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that a drone strike had killed three U.S. military personnel and wounded 34 others who were stationed in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border. The president blamed Iran-backed militant groups for the deadly blast. Officials said that the attack had been launched from Syria on Saturday night.
In response to news of the attack, Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator John Cornyn both posted on X, formerly Twitter, calling on the U.S. to act.
Graham, a South Carolina Republican, wrote on X: “Hit Iran now. Hit them hard.”
While sharing a CNN article on the news of the drone strike, Cornyn, a Texas Republican, posted on X: “Target Tehran.”
Carlson appeared to disagree with the idea of retaliating against Iran on X where he shared an image of the posts by Graham and Cornyn and referred to the senators as “f****** lunatics.”
Newsweek reached out via email on Sunday night to representatives for Carlson and Graham for comment.
A spokesperson for Cornyn responded to Newsweek‘s request for comment by sending a “follow-up tweet from the senator.”
In the post, Cornyn responded to an X user who was questioning if he suggested that the U.S. “bomb Iran.” The Texas Republican responded, “No. IRGC and Quds Force terrorist facilitators.”
Carlson, who hosts Tucker on X, has previously criticized Republican lawmakers who pushed for the U.S. to go to war with Iran amid mounting conflict in the region.
The attack of U.S. troops in Jordan, a Middle Eastern ally of the U.S., comes as the Israel-Hamas war has caused tensions to escalate across the region in the months following Hamas‘ surprise attack on Israel in October 2023.
