Iran's Nukes To Israel's Push: Trump's Ex-Aide Tells What Led US To War

A day after his much-talked-about resignation, which he claimed was in protest of the Iran War, Joe Kent, US President Donald Trump's former counterterrorism chief, blamed Israel for pushing into the conflict and claimed Tehran was nowhere close to developing a nuclear weapon.

Kent, who served as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, sat for a wide-ranging interview with right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson to discuss his decision to quit the high-profile job and shared many of his opinions on the war.

"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. 

🚨🇺🇸 BREAKING: Joe Kent on Why He Believes Iran Was Not an ‘Imminent Threat'

“The Israelis drove the decision to take this action, which we knew would set off a series of events because the Iranians would retaliate.”pic.twitter.com/rtgpnhDtnJ

— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) March 18, 2026

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."

Was Iran Developing Nukes?

Trump and several of his top administration officials have claimed that the reason behind attacking Iran on February 28 was necessary because the country's nuclear programme posed an imminent threat to American national security. In fact, Trump on Tuesday claimed Iran 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.

Trump's former counterterrorism chief said that since 2004, Iran's Islamic regime has had a fatwa – or edict – in place that bars them from developing a nuclear weapon. "We had no intelligence to indicate that fatwa was being disobeyed," Kent said, calling the Iranian strategy "actually pretty pragmatic."

'Ayatollah's Death Helped Iran'

According to Kent, the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not work in the US's favour and just went on to embolden his hardline supporters. "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.

Team Trump's Reaction

The White House has dismissed claims that President Donald Trump was influenced by foreign powers, calling such allegations “falsehoods” after Kent's resignation.

Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said the US president acts solely in the interest of the United States and is not “controlled by another country”.

“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.