Peter Thiel breaks with Trump over the Iran war: ‘We should not have done it’

Billionaire technology investor Peter Thiel has voiced strong scepticism about the US war on Iran, saying Washington should not have launched it^4,13. “We should not have done it,” Thiel said of the war^3,5. Thiel told an audience at a private lecture earlier this month that the decision was a mistake^9,11.

The comments became public through leaked audio^10,12. In them, Thiel criticised Trump’s decision to launch the war and spoke of a “lot of mistakes”⁸. He said the United States should not have gotten involved⁵. The remarks were described as a rare rebuke of Trump from one of his backers^11,12.

Thiel also warned that the world is “sleepwalking into Armageddon”⁷. He has concluded that going to war with Iran might not have been the smartest decision, according to one account of the remarks⁹.

Why it matters to investors

Thiel is one of Trump’s biggest tech billionaire supporters and a key Republican donor^9,12. He was among the first major players in the tech world to back Trump¹⁰. He is also a longtime booster of Vice President JD Vance’s political career and the founder of defense contractor Palantir⁷.

The break is limited to the war. Thiel is still backing Trump but balking at the Iran war⁶, and the split is over foreign policy⁸. Political coverage described the remarks as Thiel’s big break with Trump and as a bad sign for Republicans^1,2.

The remarks add a prominent donor voice to the debate over the war at a time when Republicans face discontent heading into the midterms^1,2. Thiel’s criticism focuses on the decision to launch the war rather than on Trump’s wider agenda^6,8.

What to watch

Thiel’s comments were made privately and surfaced through leaked audio, so the first question is whether he repeats or expands on them in public^10,11. No public statement from Thiel on the war accompanied the leak in the coverage^10,12.

A second question is whether other tech donors follow. Thiel was an early backer of Trump among tech figures, and his scepticism about the war is now on the record^4,10. Thiel’s links to Vance and to Palantir give his views on the war a reach into both the administration’s circle and the defense industry^7,13. The leak shows that the war divides even some of Trump’s earliest backers in technology^3,10.