President Donald Trump has received contrasting advice on how to deal with Iran.
Trump on Monday said the U.S. and Iran would continue talks for a nuclear deal, adding that Tehran was a tough negotiator and that the main impediment to an agreement was over enrichment.
Some Republicans, such as conservative pundit Mark Levin who visited the White House last week, insist Iran is simply stalling because it’s days away from building a nuclear weapon. The hawks are trying to convince Trump to give up on negotiations and greenlight an Israeli attack on Tehran.
However, Trump’s own intelligence team has told the president that the hawks’ claims are not accurate, Politico reported.
The media outlet added that Trump allies are upset at media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers, particularly the New York Post, for suggesting the president’s chief negotiator, special envoy Steve Witkoff, is a mouthpiece for Qatar, which has joined the U.S. and Egypt in trying to restore a ceasefire in Gaza.
“They’re trying to push the president to make a decision that’s not what he wants,” a senior administration official told Politico. “There’s clearly a lobby for war with Iran vs. those who are more aligned with the president, that knows he is the one that has been able to bring them to the negotiating table.”
Political pundit Tucker Carlson took to X last week to warn Trump not to heed the advice of Levin and other hawks because doing so would end his presidency. Carlson said “people have been making the same claim” about Iran being close to a nuclear weapon “since at least the 1990s.”
“It’s a lie. In fact, there is zero credible intelligence that suggests Iran is anywhere near building a bomb, or has plans to. None,” he wrote. “Anyone who claims otherwise is ignorant or dishonest. If the US government knew Iran was weeks from possessing a nuclear weapon, we’d be at war already.”
Some people close to Trump told Politico that the pressure tactics are starting to grate on the president.
“Levin and Murdoch are all over Trump all the time — I actually think they hurt their case because I know Trump,” one source told the media outlet. “Once he’s kind of made his mind up, you can come at it later from a different angle, but you keep pressing, he digs in.”
Many military and nuclear experts say an attack on Iran probably would only temporarily set back Tehran’s nuclear program, Politico reported. Also, Vice President JD Vance and MAGA influencers have come to Witkoff’s defense.
Reuters contributed to this story.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
