Martha MacCallum sets Iran's conduct against Piker's “regardless of their domestic policies”
Martha MacCallumFox News anchor, hosting The Five
Martha MacCallum on Hasan Piker's Iran answer, on Fox News's "The Five," Sept. 18, 2026.
Excerpt from 2:20 to 3:14 of the Fox News video. DI added its logo in the corner.
Video: Fox News. Excerpt used for news reporting and commentary
Watch the full original video (opens in a new tab) (relevant passage: 00:02:23-00:03:12)
Opening The Five's discussion of the Axios Show interview, MacCallum said President Trump was “exactly right” that Piker had become an unwanted distraction, then took up Piker's answer on Iran and set his qualifier — that Iran has a right to defend itself regardless of its domestic policies — against an itemised list of the Iranian government's conduct.
“When he talked about Iran, he said they have a right to defend themselves regardless of their domestic policies, which I would point out include slaughtering tens of thousands of their own people in the streets, squalor, no economy to speak of, killing gay people, zero rights for women in Iran, and chanting death to Israel with the intention of annihilation and elimination of Israel and the United States. But he says regardless of their domestic policies, they should have a weapon.”
Original video
Where this statement fits
Hasan Piker's Axios Show interview claims about terrorism, Iran, China and Israel
In an interview for "The Axios Show" conducted by Alex Thompson, Hasan Piker was asked whether America commits more terrorism than the organization behind the September 11 attacks and answered "Pound for pound as far as the number of deaths, yes," adding that the United States has "caused tremendous terror all around the world." He cited a U.S. missile strike on an elementary school in Minab, Iran, and said the analysis does not justify the September 11 attacks. Excerpts published September 17, 2026 also carried his view that the Middle East would be more stable if Iran had a nuclear weapon, while he said he does not want Iran, the United States, Russia or China to possess nuclear arms and was not advocating Iranian armament. The full episode, published September 18, added further contested claims: that Mao Zedong was "a great man of history" whose "excesses" were "deaths born out of mismanagement and famine"; that a Chinese child may have better conditions than an American one within two decades; that "Zionism is fascism" and that he is not worried his audience would turn violent against Zionists; and that Israel "in its current formation" should not be a U.S. ally. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan for whom Piker campaigned in the primary, rejected the al-Qaeda comparison. The dispute is whether these claims are defensible analysis of U.S., Middle Eastern and Chinese policy or indefensible positions, and what they mean for the candidates associated with him.
Source and context
Original video
About this source
Fox News' own recording of the twelve-minute opening segment of The Five for 18 September 2026, in which the panel discusses Hasan Piker's Axios Show interview. The segment plays the Axios clips of Piker on Iran's nuclear programme and on Mao Zedong, and the Oval Office exchange in which President Trump called Piker "a terrible liability." This locator carries MacCallum's reply to the Iran clip, delivered as she hands the discussion to Joey Jones.. Speakers were identified from the broadcast itself: MacCallum names the panel in the opening line and hands to each of them by name, and each speaker was confirmed on camera at their locator. Fox's own @TheFive account attributes the closing lines of this passage to Jones, and Fox's page for the segment attributes "the Democratic Party has allowed itself to be infiltrated by influencers" to Conway.
Watch the clip from this source at the top of the page.
Before the quotation
The programme had just played two clips from the Axios Show interview, in which Piker said Iran “much like any other sovereign nation, has a right to defend itself, regardless of its domestic policies,” and that he believed the Middle East “would be more stable” if Iran had a nuclear weapon. Piker's answer is recorded separately in this case.
After the quotation
MacCallum handed to Johnny “Joey” Jones, who replied that he agreed with Piker “in the sense of my assessment of Iran is regardless of its domestic policies” — but for the opposite reason — before criticising him at length. MacCallum later introduced the Mao clip and turned to Harold Ford Jr.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
On the claims Piker made in the Axios Show interview, MacCallum condemns. She does not merely play the Iran answer back; she sets Piker's stated qualifier against an itemised account of the Iranian government's conduct, which evaluates the claim rather than describing it, and she endorses the President's assessment of Piker as a distraction. The closest competing label is “Challenged the characterization”, which loses because she does not dispute how Piker's position has been described — she accepts his description of it and rejects the position.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Hasan Piker
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- Martha MacCallum sets Iran's conduct against Piker's “regardless of their domestic policies”
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The Dispute Index. "Martha MacCallum sets Iran's conduct against Piker's “regardless of their domestic policies”". First published: 2026-09-19. Last updated: 2026-09-25. https://disputeindex.com/events/1218-opening-the-five-s-discussion-of-the-axios