Cruz stumped by basic Iran question—and the Internet noticed

‘What’s Iran’s population?’—Cruz has no answer for Tucker Carlson

Cruz stumped by basic Iran question—and the Internet noticed

‘What’s Iran’s population?’—Cruz has no answer for Tucker Carlsonpic.twitter.com/dwWZNeNbF2

— Rifnote (@viarifnote) June 18, 2025

Tucker Carlson runs gotcha question on Ted Cruz over Iran, takes victory lap TUCKER: “How many people live in Iran?” CRUZ: “I don’t know the population.” TUCKER: “You don’t know the population of the country you seek to topple?” CRUZ: “How many people?” TUCKER: “92 million…How could you not know that?” CRUZ: “I don’t memorize population tables.” TUCKER: “Well, it’s kind of relevant, because you’re calling for the overthrow of the government.” CRUZ: “Why is it relevant?” TUCKER: “Because if you don’t know anything about the country…what’s the ethnic mix of Iran?” CRUZ: “They are Persians, and predominantly Shia-” TUCKER: “What percent? You don’t know anything about Iran!”