Slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk had privately pressed President Donald Trump in the Oval Office not to launch a war against Iran, even while donors aligned with him opposed that stance, US right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson said.
Kirk was one of the only people close to Trump who raised the risks of escalation, Carlson said at the Megyn Kelly Show on Friday.
“He went to the Oval Office and said, ‘Sir, I totally understand and think Iran’s really bad. But a war with Iran is something that could really hurt our country,’” Carlson said.
He added that Kirk showed him “intense” donor messages criticizing his position but argued he stuck to it because “he was for doing the right and wise and difficult thing.”
Kirk, founder of the conservative youth group Turning Point USA, was killed by an unknown assassin on Wednesday. He had expressed mixed views on Iran over the years.
In 2020, after the US killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani on Trump’s order, he warned against deeper involvement, saying: “Iran is an evil regime … Critical we remain restrained and disciplined against another endless, reckless war in the region. NO WAR with Iran!”
In the midst of Israel's 12-day war against Iran in June, and before the US airstrikes, Kirk cautioned that Iran’s size, history, and resilience made open war a dangerous prospect.
“They were a great power for a thousand years. Not even the Romans could defeat Persia,” he told Newsmax on June 20.
Yet his stance shifted when Trump ordered strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, known as Operation Midnight Hammer. While other conservative allies questioned the wisdom of the move, Kirk applauded it.
"America stands with President Trump," he wrote on X. "President Trump has been navigating this quite well in fact, he could potentially declare victory," he added in a video testimonial posted online.
