Podcaster Joe Rogan is warning that President Donald Trump may be steering the country into dangerous territory with his war in Iran.
One of the most powerful voices in podcasting, Rogan is among a group of “podcast bros” widely credited with helping Trump, 79, recapture the White House.
But he has been increasingly critical of the president’s hardline immigration crackdown and has voice strong opposition to Trump’s unprovoked airstrikes in Iran, which killed the country’s supreme leader and have resulted in the death of at least seven U.S. service members in retaliatory attacks.
In an episode of his podcast on Wednesday, Rogan described the war as “unnecessary” and said it could lead to “World War III.”
“The problem is from the outside. Like, the rest of the world, you, you look at this unnecessary aggression by the United States government, and then you tack on whatever propaganda they have already been spitting out about America for the last 20 or 30 years. And then this war with Iran gets really ugly, because that’s how you start a World War III,” he said.
Rogan also questioned whether the country had done anything to justify military action. Speaking with guests Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster, Rogan acknowledged concerns about Iran enriching uranium but said that alone did not necessarily justify an invasion, noting that other countries such as North Korea already possess nuclear weapons without prompting similar action.
“You start a World War III by doing something that, other than people that wanted this forever, who else thinks that’s a good idea? Who else thinks it’s a good idea to just attack a country that isn’t doing anything? They haven’t done anything.
“Like, if you have proof that they have developed depleted uranium and they’ve got it up to a point where it’s, they’ve got it to—what percentage does it have to be? Like, they’re at 60, right?” he added.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Since the airstrikes were launched earlier this month, Trump has given several explanations for why he started the war.
Initial announcements presented the strikes as targeting Iran’s nuclear program and possibly prompting a change in leadership. As the operation progressed, however, the messaging shifted. By Monday, Trump was framing the action as a defensive measure designed to protect the United States and its allies from potential Iranian aggression.
“An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat to the Middle East, but also to the American people,” Trump said.
The lack of clarity has rattled Democrats, as well as some of Trump’s MAGA base, including Alex Jones, Andrew Tate, Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Rogan, who endorsed Trump in 2024 and hosted him on his podcast after saying he wasn’t interested in helping the 79-year-old’s campaign, has also been among the MAGA voices who have slammed the president for starting the war, which has been costing American taxpayers an estimated $1 billion a day.
On his podcast, Rogan said that some of Trump’s supporters feel “betrayed” by the war.
“I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right? He ran on ‘no more wars,’ ‘end these stupid, senseless wars,’ and then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it,” he said.
“It just doesn’t make any sense to me, unless we’re acting on someone else’s interests—like, particularly Israel’s interests,” he said, adding: “Clearly Israel wanted this.”
During the 2024 campaign, Trump promised to steer clear of new foreign conflicts, pledging to keep the United States out of costly overseas wars—a message that resonated with voters tired of decades of military interventions.
Since returning to the White House, however, his administration has taken a far more aggressive approach abroad.
The February strikes on Iran marked the second major use of force against Tehran in less than a year, following punitive air attacks on nuclear sites in June 2025.
Trump also conducted a high-profile operation to capture Venezuela’s president in early January and has hinted at further engagements in the region.
Rogan and other podcast personalities tied to the so-called “manosphere”—including Andrew Schulz, Theo Von, and the Paul brothers—were widely credited with helping Trump connect with younger male voters during the 2024 presidential campaign.
Trump appeared on several of their hugely popular shows, which regularly rack up millions of views and viral clips. On election night, he even thanked some of the hosts by name during his victory speech.
But the relationship has grown more complicated since then. Rogan and several other podcasters who once amplified Trump’s message have publicly criticized aspects of his second-term agenda.
In recent months, Rogan, Von and Shawn Ryan have pushed back on policies ranging from the administration’s mass deportation campaign to its support for Israel’s war in Gaza and its handling of the Epstein files.
Last year, Rogan repeatedly blasted what he described as “insane” immigration raids that targeted everyday laborers, arguing they clashed with Trump’s campaign promise to concentrate deportations on the “worst of the worst.”
He has also accused the president of “gaslighting” the public over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and labeled the administration’s pressure campaign against Jimmy Kimmel “crazy.” And when Trump rolled out tariffs on Canada a year ago, Rogan dismissed the policy as “stupid.”
