Iran Makes the Most of Tucker Carlson Interview
PLUS: False Link Claimed Between Migrants and L.A. Traffic; ICE Agents Are Not Quitting ‘In Droves’
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In today’s edition, we show how Tucker Carlson’s interview with the Iranian president has been a goldmine for Iranian propagandists. We also show how the supposed evidence proving that mass deportations in Los Angeles have eased the city’s infamous traffic jams prove no such thing. And we report on how liberals were fooled by a fabricated article reporting that ICE officers are leaving the agency “in droves.”
Plus: NewsGuard’s “False Claim of the Week”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Sofia Rubinson and Eric Effron.
1. Iranian President’s Interview with Tucker Carlson Generates False Claims in Iranian State Media
What happened: Iranian state media is seizing on a high-profile interview of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian with U.S. conservative commentator Tucker Carlson to advance false narratives about Iran’s nuclear program, support of terrorism, and the U.S. This includes the false claim that Iran never issued a kill order for U.S. President Donald Trump.
Context: The 28-minute interview was released on July 7, 2025, on the former Fox News host’s website (Trust Score: 17.5/100), generating 1.1 million views on YouTube and 2 million views on TikTok in less than a day.
A closer look: Pezeshkian’s claims, which Carlson did not challenge, were then widely covered by Iranian state media outlets, including the Islamic Republic News Agency (Trust Score: 7.5/100), Mehr News (Trust Score: 5/100), The Tehran Times (Trust Score: 7.5/100), and Tasnim News Agency (Trust Score: 7.5/100), among others.
Fatwa falsehood: Among the claims promoted by Pezeshkian was that Iran never issued any fatwas (religious rulings) calling for violence against Trump. “They have not issued decrees or fatwas against any individual or against Donald Trump,” he said. Carlson nodded as Pezeshkian spoke and then moved on to his next question.
Actually: On June 29, 2025, Grand Ayatollahs Naser Makarem Shirazi and Hossein Nouri Hamedani publicly issued separate fatwas against Trump.
A NewsGuard review of the text of the fatwas shows that both explicitly name Trump and label him a “Moharebeh,” an Islamic-Arabic term meaning “waging war against God,” which carries a death sentence under Iranian law.
And on July 4, 2025, days before the Carlson interview, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, during Friday prayers, called for the execution of Trump.
‘Death to America’ distortion: Asked by Carlson about Iran’s infamous “Death to America” chants, Pezeshkian claimed that the slogan is not literal and directed at “policies” rather than people. Again, Carlson did not attempt to counter the claim.
“When they say death to the United States, they don't mean death to people or even the officials of the United States,” he said. “They mean death to crimes, death to killing and carnage, death to supporting killing others.”
Actually: Pezeshkian’s portrayal of the slogan is contradicted by repeated statements from Iran’s own leaders.
In a February 2019 speech, Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said, “Let me make this clear for the esteemed American officials: ‘Death to America’ means death to Trump…It means death to American leaders.”
Hoaxes on repeat: NewsGuard identified four other unchallenged false claims advanced by Pezeshkian during the Carlson interview, including that Iran has consistently cooperated with the International Atomic Energy Agency. After Pezeshkian advanced the claim about the IAEA, Carlson did not challenge it and asked his next question.
Pezeshkian claimed that the U.S. created the Islamic State, which Carlson did not correct or follow up on, and instead simply asked his next question. After Pezeshkian claimed that Iran has never killed an American, Carlson did not challenge the claim or reference any of the documented U.S. casualties in recent years from Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, Syria and Jordan, or earlier such as the 1983 bombing of U.S. barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. service members or the 1985 kidnapping and murder of Beirut CIA station chief William Buckley. (Reality Check members can read NewsGuard’s False Claim Fingerprints for these claims here.)
Zooming out: Analysts say the interview helped Tehran launder its claims to a Western audience and bolstered the regime’s image at home.
Russian and Chinese state media also amplified Pezeshkian’s claims from the interview, using them to portray the U.S. and Israel as global aggressors, NewsGuard found.
Iran expert Fatima Abo Alasrar said in a blog post that “Pezeshkian's appearance on American media becomes proof of regime legitimacy,” handing Tehran “a propaganda victory it couldn't achieve through state media alone: Western validation of its peaceful intentions narrative.”
NewsGuard sent an email to Carlson seeking comment on the interview but did not receive a response.
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2. L.A. Traffic Jams Persist, Despite Claims They Were Eased by Mass Deportations
By Nicole Dirks
What happened: Los Angeles is notorious for its traffic congestion. However, increased immigrant deportations did not cause a sudden decrease in snarled traffic, despite claims by pro-Trump social media accounts citing a Google Maps screenshot.
Context: Since early June, ICE has conducted a string of immigration raids in L.A. as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The city was in the national spotlight as protests over deportations erupted into violence in early June and Trump called in the National Guard and the military.
During the first three months of the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security every day arrested an average of 660 people who were allegedly in the country illegally, according to a government press release. On June 4 alone, the department arrested more than 2,300 people, a senior DHS official told the Washington Post (Trust Score: 100/100).
A closer look: A few weeks after the spike in deportations, Trump supporters on social media claimed that the deportations had improved life in the city by resulting in faster traffic. Many cited as proof a screenshot of a Google Maps view of L.A. that was described as depicting light traffic during the evening rush hour on Monday, July 7.
The claim, first posted without the Google Maps screenshot as evidence, appears to have originated in a July 5 X post by conservative user @JoshuaSteinman stating, “Turns out the solution to LA traffic was mass deportations.” Two days later, he replied to his own post with the screenshot from Google Maps showing green traffic lines, stating, “Dear Lord, Monday evening rush hour… it’s just gone.” (Green lines represent light traffic.) The post garnered 6.1 million views and 8,500 likes in three days.
Conservative commentator Benny Johnson, interviewing Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds on Johnson’s YouTube show and podcast “The Benny Show” on July 8, stated, “There’s no traffic in L.A. anymore, Byron, because of the deportations, the mass deportations.” Donalds replied: “That is not the end. There’s a significant amount of work that still needs to be done. … We have to send a lot of illegals home.” The YouTube video received 263,930 views and 18,000 likes in one day.
Actually: July 2025 traffic reports show that the city continued to experience major congestion during rush hour, except for a minor drop around July 4, which is typical of holiday traffic patterns.
NewsGuard reviewed Los Angeles traffic data on Google Maps in a historical view for July 7 during the evening rush hour and found that several highways were labeled in yellow and red, which indicates extreme congestion.
NewsGuard also reviewed live Los Angeles traffic data for the morning rush hour on both Google Maps and the live traffic monitor Total Traffic on July 9 at 8:02 a.m. Pacific Time — two days after the supposed decrease in traffic. Both sites showed highways labeled almost entirely in red.
The Google Maps screenshot shared by users advancing the claim did not include a date or time, so it is not clear if the screenshot shows a rush hour on July 7 as claimed.
More context: According to a June 15, 2025, article in the Los Angeles Times (Trust Score: 100/100), residents and merchants in several Los Angeles neighborhoods did report that foot traffic — not vehicular traffic — had noticeably dropped in areas where ICE raids had recently occurred.
Other news outlets reported that some L.A. schools, restaurants, shops, and parishes have seen fewer visitors since June 6, 2025.
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3. False Claim of the Week: The National Weather Service Did Not Issue Timely Alerts About the Texas Floods Due to Cuts by the Trump Administration
NewsGuard’s “False Claim of the Week” highlights a false claim from NewsGuard’s False Claim Fingerprints proprietary database of provably false claims and their debunks. The claim that the National Weather Service did not issue timely alerts about the Texas floods due to cuts by the Trump administration was deemed the “False Claim of the Week” due to its widespread appearance across social media platforms and websites, its high engagement levels, and the high-profile nature of the sources promoting it. Given those three factors — in addition to its significant subject matter — its potential for harm makes it our False Claim of the Week.
Debunk: While it is true that some positions at National Weather Service forecasting offices in Texas were unfilled at the time of the floods, independent weather experts said that NWS provided the most timely warnings and the most accurate forecasts possible given the available weather data.
Read NewsGuard’s full debunk for this claim in the July 8 newsletter.
4. Liberals Laud Fake Story that ICE Agents Are Resigning “In Droves”
What happened: Liberal social media users were duped by a fake article, purporting to be from British news outlet Sky News, reporting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are quitting “in droves” due to low morale and concerns about “doxxing” — having their personal information exposed online.
Context: The posts circulated amid protests against the ICE raids in Los Angeles and followed news reports that assault cases against ICE agents had surged 700 percent as of early July 2025.
A closer look: On July 7, liberal social media users shared an image of a supposed Sky News headline stating, “Ice Agents quitting in droves due to low morale, doxxing fears.”
Jason Call, a defeated Green Party candidate in the state of Washington, shared the image of the purported Sky News article on X with the caption, “Feel good story of the week.” The post received 230,000 views and 16,000 likes in one day.
Michelle MiJun Kim, a podcast producer and author with 67,000 followers on Instagram, also shared the article in an Instagram post captioned, “A quick reminder to breathe and pay attention to all the resistance that is happening right now!” The post received 4,390 likes in one day.
Actually: The image purporting to show the Sky News headline is fake, and NewsGuard found no articles matching the headline on Sky News’ website.
The supposed Sky News article is inconsistent with the formatting of articles released on the news network’s home page. For example, the Sky News screenshot contains a date and a headline above the image, whereas typical articles from the outlet do not include dates and place the headline underneath the image, not above.
NewsGuard sent a July 2025 email to Sky News seeking comment but did not receive a response.
5. In Case You Missed It … NewsGuard’s Quarterly Webinar for Reality Check Members
On July 10, 2025, NewsGuard’s Reality Check team hosted a quarterly webinar for premium members titled “Brands Under Attack: How Viral Falsehoods Shape Brand Perception.” The virtual briefing covered the origins and spread of viral false claims targeting major brands, revealing how these campaigns take root and the real-world impact they can have on trusted brands and consumer decision-making.
Reality Check members who wish to view a recording of the briefing can access the webinar here. To become a premium member, please subscribe here.
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