Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host and prominent conservative commentator, has renewed warnings that the Trump administration may order a nuclear strike on Iran's Pickaxe Mountain facility, a heavily fortified underground complex near the Natanz nuclear site. Carlson, a frequent critic of Israeli influence in Washington, claims Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pressuring President Trump daily, alleging Netanyahu is "cornered and desperate" after recent election results and cannot form a government without U.S. assistance.
The claims center on what Carlson describes as a quietly rewritten U.S. nuclear doctrine since February that would make battlefield nuclear weapons easier to use. Carlson argues a strike on Pickaxe Mountain would unleash radioactive contamination across the Persian Gulf and potentially trigger nuclear escalation involving Russia, India, Pakistan and North Korea, which he says would inevitably lead to World War Three.
However, the White House and Pentagon have denied any change in U.S. nuclear doctrine. In October, Donald Trump told Newsmax: "I wouldn't use nuclear. We don't have to." Former National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent, in an interview with Carlson, stated there was no intelligence indicating Iran was three weeks away from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Carlson has long argued that America should not subordinate its foreign policy to Israeli interests, becoming a focal point in the debate within the MAGA movement between those resisting foreign entanglements and those who regard unwavering support for Israel as integral to U.S. national security. Critics have nicknamed him "Qatarlson," suggesting his criticism of Israel reflects Qatari rather than independent influence.
