Public spat reflects fracture among Trump’s coalition over whether US should join Israel’s escalating conflict with Iran

US politics live – latest updates

Ted Cruz, the US senator from Texas, and conservative media personality Tucker Carlson have clashed over US military involvement in the Middle East, with the latter shouting: “You don’t know anything about Iran!” in a heated interview that exposes a sharp division within Donald Trump’s coalition as the president considers joining Israel in attacking Iran.

In the confrontation, a short excerpt released ahead of an approximately two-hour interview set to air today, Carlson – an acolyte of the Maga movement which generally argues for American isolationism from foreign wars – challenged Cruz’s knowledge of Iran, which the Republican hawk has advocated attacking.

“How many people live in Iran, by the way?” Carlson asked.