Washington (QNN)- Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent said the US intelligence community agreed before the US-Israeli war in Iran that Iran was not developing a nuclear weapon. He also stressed that intelligence agencies warned that any attack on Iran could trigger retaliation against US military bases and disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Kent made the remarks in a post published on X. He described the war as one of “many tragedies” that ignored professional intelligence assessments in favor of political pressure and Israeli influence.
“One of the many tragedies of this war is that before the war began the US Intel Community, including CIA, was in agreement that Iran wasn’t developing a nuclear weapon,” Kent wrote.
He added that intelligence agencies also believed Iran would target American bases in the region and shut down the Strait of Hormuz if Israel and the United States attacked the country.
According to Kent, US intelligence officials further assessed that attempts to target Iran’s leadership would likely strengthen the Iranian government further more.
Kent argued that despite what he described as the “professionalism and accuracy” of the intelligence community, “the narrative and agenda spun by a foreign government — Israel — won the argument and forced us into this war.”
He called for a deeper investigation into how the United States entered the conflict, saying Americans “need to understand exactly how this happened to ensure we are never put in this position again.”
Kent resigned from his role as director of the National Counterterrorism Center in March. In his resignation letter, he said he could not support the war against Iran.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” he wrote at the time. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump rejected reports that Israel pushed him into the war.
In an April post on Truth Social, Trump attempted to deny reports that Israel pushed him to conflict, but instead, he ended up confirming the reports. He claimed that Israel “never talked me into the war with Iran", but added that the October 7, 2023 resistance operation against Israel, along with his long-held position that “Iran can never have a nuclear weapon,” shaped his decision.
