Donald Trump assured Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson in an Oval Office meeting last year that he would not go to war with Iran, according to a new book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. The book, Regime Change, claims Trump told the pair: “We’re not doing that.”
The meeting took place early last year, with Carlson reportedly warning Trump that a broader war would be his ruin. “They want you to go to war with Iran,” Carlson said, to which Trump replied: “We’re not doing that.” Trump also told Carlson: “I don’t think there’s ever been an American president as powerful as I am.” Carlson responded: “Certainly not since FDR. Really, the only thing that could wreck it is war with Iran.”
The book also details Trump’s reaction to images from Israel’s 2024 pager attack on Hezbollah, in which he described injuries including “mutilated genitals and missing hands”. Trump reportedly said one survivor “looked like a great white shark came and just took a chunk out of him. It was like a shark bite. It was horrible.”
Trump’s fascination with the attack is said to have been shared with Musk and Carlson, with Musk reportedly “transfixed” by a golden pager presented to Trump by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The book describes Trump as “horrified by the injuries, but fascinated as well, lingering on the scenes and the details.”
Despite his earlier assurances, Trump launched an attack on Iran on 28 February this year, with an agreement to end the war signed earlier this week. The book, which is published on Tuesday, includes accounts of Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran, discussions about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, and attempts to suspend legal rights amid an immigration crackdown.
