Joe Kent, the former director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, suggested in a post on X that the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may have been counterproductive, pointing to a long-standing religious edict against nuclear weapons that he said had held since 2003.
"Guys, I'm starting to think killing the ayatollah who issued a fatwa against developing a nuclear weapon that held since 2003 may have been a mistake….." Kent wrote, quote-posting a claim from X account The Hormuz Letter.
The post Kent responded to cited Fars News, an Iranian state-affiliated outlet, saying Iran now has "no choice but to obtain the atomic bomb" to remove "the military option for the occupation and partitioning of Iran" from the table, and that Tehran must "absolutely reach nuclear deterrence" before negotiations could proceed "from a correct position."
Guys, I'm starting to think killing the ayatollah who issued a fatwa against developing a nuclear weapon that held since 2003 may have been a mistake….. https://t.co/C4OLfxmCGS
— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) June 28, 2026
Kent has been a vocal critic of the US-Israel campaign against Iran since resigning from his post earlier this year.
ALSO READ: 1,000 Dead And Counting: How Record-Breaking Heatwave Is Becoming Public Health Crisis In France
He has previously said Iran maintained a fatwa, or religious ruling, against developing nuclear weapons dating to 2004, and has argued that US intelligence had no indication the ruling was being violated. He has also said Khamenei "didn't fear dying" because he believed the Iranian regime would survive his death, and that his killing emboldened hardline elements within the government.
Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has since become Iran's new Supreme Leader. In his first letter after assuming the role, he made no mention of the nuclear program or his father's fatwa, neither endorsing nor disavowing it, leaving unclear whether Iran would continue to observe the ruling.
Kent's critics have disputed his broader framing of Iran's nuclear program, noting that Iran had enriched uranium to near weapons-grade levels and declined to dismantle that stockpile or include its ballistic missile program in negotiations.
ALSO READ: Inside The Investigation: How AI Assisted FBI After The White House Dinner Attack
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.