Washington DC [US], March 19 (ANI): Joe Kent, former director of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, told Tucker Carlson on the Tucker Carlson Show that Israel heavily influenced the start of the US-Israel-Iran confrontation. “The Israelis drove the decision to take this action, which we knew would set off a series of events because the Iranians would retaliate,” Kent said, stressing Israel’s central role in the escalation.
Asked whether Iran was close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, Kent said no. He argued Iran was not weeks away from a bomb when the conflict began and stressed that a 2004 religious edict (fatwa) bars the development of nuclear weapons. “We had no intelligence to indicate that that fatwa was being disobeyed or was on the cusp of being lifted,” he said, adding there was no evidence of an imminent Iranian attack.
Kent also commented on the possible consequences of the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, saying he did not believe the Ayatollah feared dying because the regime would survive if he were killed.
Earlier, former President Donald Trump reacted to Kent’s resignation and his objections to the war with Iran. Trump called Kent’s departure “a good thing,” criticizing his assessment of the Iranian threat and saying he had viewed Kent as “weak on security.”
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