NEW: Tucker Carlson Announces Jaw-Dropping Interview

Top-rated conservative podcast host Tucker Carlson set social media on fire Saturday when he announced that he had sat down for an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The shocking announcement comes just under two weeks after President Donald Trump negotiated a ceasefire to the Iran-Israel conflict, which came after a wildly successful U.S. strike on several Iranian nuclear sites.

“We just finished up an interview with Masoud Pezeshkian, who is the president of Iran. A 70-year-old heart surgeon who leads the country we were just at war with a week-and-a-half ago,” Carlson said in a video announcement. He then acknowledged that the interview would be perceived as controversial, saying “we know we will be doing this interview but we did it anyway” before explaining his reasoning.

“Well, we did it because we were just at war with Iran ten days ago and maybe, again. And so our view, which has remained consistent over time, is that Americans have the constitutional right, and the god-given right, to all the information they can gather about matters that affect them,” Carlson continued. “If their country is doing something in their name they have a right, an absolute right, to know as much about it as they can. And that would include hearing from the people they’re fighting.”

The former Fox News host then acknowledged that listeners probably cannot believe everything the Iranian president will say. “But that’s not the point,” Carlson said. “The point is you should be able to decide for yourself whether you believe it or not. And keep in mind that anyone who seeks to deny you that right is not your ally, but your enemy.”

Carlson then noted that he has also put in a request for an interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the third time in three months in order to have a balanced discussion. “We hope he accepts,” the veteran journalist added.

The interview, which has not yet been released, was “limited by a few factors,” Carlson explained. In addition to the language barrier, the interview was conducted remotely. “And there are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could not get an honest answer,” Carlson explained.

The interview will first be released to members of Carlson’s streaming service before it is uploaded publicly.

Carlson is no stranger to interviews with adversarial foreign leaders. Last spring, he sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin for an extensive discussion on the conflict in Ukraine. He has long extended an invitation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as well, though an interview has not yet materialized.