Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Joe Kent Tells Tucker Carlson Why He Didn’t Think Iran Posed Imminent Threat

[Screenshot/Tucker Carlson Network]

Former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Joe Kent told Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson Wednesday why he believed Iran was not an imminent threat to the U.S.

Kent resigned from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Tuesday, stating that he could not support the Iran war in good conscience. He said on “The Tucker Carlson Show” that the Israelis influenced President Donald Trump’s administration’s decision to strike Iran, which proved there was no immediate danger posed to the U.S. at the time of the attack.

“I think this is key, I mean, this would be more challenging to explain had the Secretary of State, the president and the Speaker of the House not come out and said that we conducted this attack at this time because the Israelis were about to do so,” Kent said. “So that takes away the argument that there was an imminent threat as in Iran planning to attack us immediately. That just simply did not exist.”

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in early March that the administration knew the Israelis were going to attack Iran, which he said in turn would cause Iran to take action against American forces. He added that the strikes in Iran would cause higher American casualties.

Kent further argued that the U.S.’ actions showed Israel has major influence over American foreign policy in the Middle East.

“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 said. “Now I think there’s a potential there where we could’ve done several different things. We could’ve simply said to the Israelis, ‘no, you will not. And if you do, then we will take something away from you.’ I think that it’s fine that we offer defense to Israel, but when we’re providing the means for their defense, we get to dictate the terms of when they go on the offensive, otherwise they stand to lose that relationship.”

“The Israelis felt emboldened that no matter what they did, no matter what situation they put us in, they could go ahead and take this action and we would just have to react,” Kent continued.

The U.S. and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, which killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of other senior leaders.

Trump’s letter to Congress intending to justify the strikes did not specify an imminent threat, but instead mentioned that the strikes were designed to “neutralize Iran’s malign activities” and “advance vital United States national interests.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a March 4 briefing that the strikes intended to target Iran’s ballistic missile program and destroy its nuclear capabilities.

Top administration officials told congressional members in February that Israel would have acted with or without the U.S. since Iran posed an existential threat to their nation.

Trump said Tuesday that Kent’s resignation was a good thing since he did not believe Iran was a “threat,” though Kent only stated that Iran was not an “imminent threat.”