Tucker Carlson stood apart from most of his Fox News counterparts by openly criticizing the decision to assassinate top Iranian general Maj. Gen. Qassim Soleimani. In a segment on his show Friday night, Carlson largely avoided directly criticizing President Donald Trump, but he did condemn “chest beaters” who want the United States to get involved in more foreign wars. Carlson openly criticized Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s assertion that the strike that killed Soleimani was called due to “threats in the region.”

“Threats in the region? If you don’t live in Washington, here’s the translation: That would be in hostile Middle Eastern countries,” Carlson said. “Places where American troops would never be in the first place, were it not for the insistent demands of nongeniuses like Max Boot and John Bolton.”

Must Watch @TuckerCarlson Monologue on Iran



“There are an awful lot of bad people in this world. We can't kill them all, it's not our job. Instead, our government exists to defend and promote the interests of American citizens. Period."



Exactly, America First! pic.twitter.com/gxyLPK0CDo — The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) January 4, 2020

Carlson went on to ask four questions to make his point that he thinks the United States has bigger things to worry about: “Is Iran really the greatest threat we face? And who’s actually benefiting from this? And why are we continuing to ignore the decline of our own country in favor of jumping into another quagmire from which there is no obvious exit? By the way, if we’re still in Afghanistan, 19 years, sad years, later, what makes us think there’s a quick way out of Iran?”

Some of Tucker Carlson's Qs: "Is Iran really the greatest threat we face? Who's actually benefiting from this? Why are we continuing to ignore the decline of our own country in favor of jumping into another quagmire from which there is no obvious exit?" pic.twitter.com/WLHcgI1u3Q — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 4, 2020

Carlson also criticized Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, who had characterized the assassination of Soleimani as “very simple” because “he was an evil bastard who murdered Americans.” Even if that is true, Carlson said, it doesn’t explain why the United States isn’t launching similar attacks against Mexico and China who are also linked to the deaths of Americans. “Soleimani was certainly a bad guy. But does that make killing him quote ‘Very simple?’ It does not,” Carlson said. “Nothing about life and certainly nothing about killing is ever ‘very simple’ and any politician that tells you otherwise is dumb or is lying.”

Trump, Carlson said, ran for president “on a promise of fewer foreign adventures” and he vowed “to focus on our problems here at home.” Since then, Washington and some of the president’s advisers “have been committed to ignoring the results of that election and its implications. Washington has wanted war with Iran for decades …. They may have finally gotten it.”

Carlson’s skepticism “stood out on a network of outspoken supporters of the president and Thursday’s airstrike,” points out CNN. Right after Carlson’s show, for example, Sean Hannity began his own show by saying that “the world is safer as one of the most ruthless, evil war criminals on Earth has been brought to justice.”