Billionaire technology investor Peter Thiel has broken with President Donald Trump over the U.S. war with Iran, declaring that the country should not have entered the conflict and pointing to strategic missteps.
Thiel, a prominent early tech-world supporter of Trump and a major Republican donor, delivered the remarks on October 12 at a private event. The statements mark his most explicit public divergence from the administration over a defining foreign policy decision as Trump’s party fights to maintain its congressional majority in the upcoming midterm elections.
“I’m skeptical of the war, I think we should not have done it,” Thiel said, according to audio obtained from a lecture in Nashville. “There were a lot of mistakes that were made.” He further questioned American strategic capabilities, adding, “Maybe we don’t have the hard power. Maybe we’re going to lose the soft power war.”
While expressing strong opposition to neoconservatives and Middle East military engagements throughout the full lecture, Thiel maintained that he still supports Trump and aims to protect the president. Representatives for both Thiel and the White House did not respond to requests for comment regarding the remarks.
The comments emerged from a lecture series in Nashville that has been documented this fall. Beyond his critique of the Iran conflict, Thiel issued warnings concerning the International Criminal Court, comparing current geopolitical pressures to historical figures from the Bush era.
“I read the Cheney family’s Trump derangement syndrome as an attempt to buy favor with the International Criminal Court and avoid prosecution. Probably too late,” Thiel said. “And I have come to suspect that the threat of an ICC arrest warrant is the sword of Damocles hanging over the Trump administration as it tries to persecute this war in Iran.”
Thiel also recounted a meeting with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu in early 2024 following the October 7 attacks, noting that he asked Netanyahu about his plans for Gaza. According to Thiel, Netanyahu responded, “I can’t just Dresdenize it,” referencing the World War II Allied bombing of Dresden that resulted in approximately 25,000 deaths.
The billionaire investor holds a history of major political influence within the Republican party. He was the first major tech figure to back Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016, securing a speaking role at the Republican National Convention that year, and later served as the primary financial backer of super PACs supporting Vice President JD Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign. Previous reporting has noted that Vance was similarly skeptical of U.S. strikes against Iran prior to the onset of the war.
