Former US counterterrorism Chief Joe Kent, who resigned over the Iran war, has said that the conflict was unnecessary. Speaking to Tucker Carlson, his first interview after stepping down, he said that Iran posed no immediate threat.
He also blamed Israel for influencing the US over getting involved in the conflict, a claim which has been denied by the White House.
"The Israelis drove the decision to take this action, which we knew would set off a series of events, meaning the Iranians would retaliate," Kent told Tucker Carlson on Wednesday.
He claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in Israel "felt emboldened" that they could start a war and the US would "just have to react."
On the contrary, President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Feb. 28 strike against Iran was necessitated due to an imminent nuclear threat. Trump also claimed Tehran was just two weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon.
Replying to claims, Kent said, "That just simply did not exist."
"No. They weren't three weeks ago when this started, and they weren't in June either," he added, referring to the US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025.
During the interaction, Kent said Iran has had a fatwa since 2004 forbidding the development of nuclear weapons. He said that the US intelligence showed no indication that the fatwa was not being followed and called Iran's approach “pragmatic.”
Kent also said that the death of Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not favour the US.
"I don't think the Ayatollah feared dying. Not because he's some crazy lunatic, but because he knew if he were killed, the regime would survive," he said.
Rejecting his claims, Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has said the US president acts solely in the interest of the US.
“The president is the leader of the most powerful country and military in the world. Nobody tells him what to do. He makes decisions based on what's in the best interest of this country,” she said.
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