In Tucker Carlson interview, Iran’s president denies Tehran called to kill Trump – ignoring ayatollah’s comments

Masoud Pezeshkian maintained that Iran only wanted peace with the world and the ubiquitous chants of ‘Death to America’ did not mean that Iranians wanted to destroy the U.S.

The interview that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian granted famed talk show host and isolationist Tucker Carlson that aired Monday was full of claims whitewashing Iran that could be easily debunked by fact-checkers.

Pezeshkian led off by saying his administration only “motto” regarding international relations was “fostering peace and tranquility and friendship with neighboring countries and with the rest of the world.”

Iran’s decades-long financial and military support for terror proxies throughout the Middle East has been proven countless times.

When asked if he would give up Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for peace, the president charged that it was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who “has put in the head of every U.S. president” since 1984 that Iran seeks a nuclear bomb, but that this was completely untrue, being “against the religious decree issued by the leader of the Islamic Republic.”

Pezeshkian also talked of Iran’s “cooperation with the IAEA,” the international nuclear watchdog, that “corroborated” his claim “because they were always there to verify this.”

Over the last several years, however, and especially over the last year, Iran has openly acknowledged enriching hundreds of pounds of uranium to levels that have no civilian use, as well as making other components that can only be used in nuclear weapons.

In addition, the IAEA has not been allowed to inspect critical nuclear sites in Iran for years, and its head, Rafael Rossi, has admitted that there is no way of knowing what work has been done in many facilities because the agency’s cameras were been shut off or taken down.

Regarding the 12-day war last month when Israel killed dozens of military commanders and most of Iran’s top nuclear scientists during its attacks on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile production facilities, Pezeshkian claimed that he had been an Israeli assassination target.

Israel had bombed the area where he had been having a meeting, he said, but failed to kill him.

While certain Israeli ministers talked of going after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the war, as he is the unquestioned ruler of the country, the U.S. made it clear that no attempt should be made on his life, with President Donald Trump even saying he had “saved” Khamenei’s life by signaling Israel with a red light on the subject.

Nothing had been said about Pezeshkian.

Carlson then asked whether Americans should be afraid of Iran, considering that “they see videos of Iranians saying ‘Death to America,’ describing our country as ‘the Great Satan.’”

Pezeshkian answered that when Iranians say this, “they don’t mean death to the people of the United States or even to the officials of the U.S., they mean death to crimes, death to killing and carnage, to supporting killing others… to insecurity and instability.”

“Have you ever heard of an Iranian killing an American? No,” he added.

The Ayatollah himself contradicted this statement, saying in a November 2023 address on Iranian TV translated by MEMRI that “When you chant ‘Death to America!’ it is not just a slogan – it is a policy.”

Among the reasons for this policy, he listed American attempts to hurt Iran “financially, economically, politically, scientifically, and morally,” and U.S. support for Israel.

“If it were not for America’s support, if it were not for the support of U.S. weapons, the corrupt and artificial Zionist regime would have been destroyed in the first week. It would have collapsed,” he said.

Iranian plots to assassinate top U.S. government officials as well as Iranian-American dissidents on U.S. soil have been uncovered over the years, luckily before any of the proposed victims were hurt.

Iranian-backed terror groups have also killed American troops overseas, most recently in Jordan in January 2024.