Former Trump administration counterterrorism chief Joe Kent said in an interview Wednesday, just one day after resigning from his role, that there was “no intelligence” that Iran was going to launch a “big sneak attack” akin to 9/11 or Pearl Harbor.
“There was no intelligence that said, ‘hey, on whatever day it was, March 1, the Iranians are going to launch this big sneak attack, they’re going to do some kind of a 9/11, Pearl Harbor, etc. They’re going to attack one of our bases’,” Kent told conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson.
“There was none of that intelligence.
“Again, back to what we know about the Iranians. They’re very, very deliberate with the escalation ladder.”
He went on to claim the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had been moderating the country’s nuclear program ahead of his death.
“I’m no fan of the former supreme leader, you know, Ali Khamenei, however, he was moderating their nuclear program,” Kent said.
“He was preventing them from getting a nuclear weapon.
“If you take him out, if you kill him aggressively, people are going to rally around that regime.”
Asked by Carlson if Iran was on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon, Kent replied, “No, they weren’t,” before adding that Iran’s strategy was “not to completely abandon the nuclear program.”
Kent announced Tuesday that he was resigning from the administration due to disagreements over the Iran war.
The White House has repeatedly cited an “imminent nuclear threat” posed by Iran as an impetus for launching strikes against the country.
Former Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent. Credit: Jenny Kane/AP
– CNN