Kent Tells Tucker: ‘Imminent Threat’ Was From Israel, Not Iran
Tucker Carlson gets visibly upset: “The Counterterrorism Center had more leads to investigate foreign ties to Charlie Kirk’s assassination, but were shut down from pursuing them.” ~Joe Kent
(ZH) – Joe Kent, former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center who was President Trump’s principal counterterrorism advisor, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show to explain his side of the story after stepping down from the administration.
Kent announced his resignation Tuesday, citing his opposition to the ongoing U.S. war with Iran, and his belief that Iran posed “no imminent threat” to America – while asserting in his resignation letter that his wife died in “a war manufactured by Israel” in a 2019 suicide bombing in Manjbi, Syria.
In this first public interview since resigning, Kent elaborated on his reasons amid reports emerging Wednesday that the FBI is investigating him for allegedly leaking or improperly sharing classified information (a probe that sources say predates his resignation and is being handled by the FBI’s Criminal Division, per several outlets).
Early on in the interview, Carlson referenced Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s justification for the strikes – that Iran posed an imminent threat because Israel was preparing to attack Iranian targets, likely prompting Iranian retaliation against U.S. forces. Carlson reframed it bluntly:
Carlson: “So, the imminent threat that the secretary of state is describing is not from Iran. It’s from Israel.”
Kent: “Exactly. And I think this speaks to the broader issue: who is in charge of our policy in the Middle East?”
Kent elaborated that Israel was preparing to strike, which would trigger retaliation endangering U.S. personnel – creating the cited “imminent” risk. He stated:
Kent: “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 insisted there was zero U.S. intelligence of Iran planning a direct attack, nearing a nuclear weapon, or posing an immediate homeland threat. He cited Iran’s religious fatwa against nuclear weapons (since 2004) and said the assassinated Supreme Leader Khamenei had moderated the program:
Kent: “There was no intelligence that said, hey… the Iranians are going to launch this big sneak attack… There was none of that intelligence.” On nukes: “No, they weren’t [on the verge of a bomb]. They weren’t in June either. The Iranians have had a fatwa – a religious ruling – against the development of a nuclear weapon since 2004… We had no intelligence that it was being disobeyed.”
JUST IN: 🇺🇸🇮🇷 Former US Counterterrorism Chief Joe Kent tells Tucker Carlson the “imminent threat” was not from Iran, it was from Israel. pic.twitter.com/UwkNe3ZQFl
— Remarks (@remarks) March 18, 2026
Internal Dissent Suppressed
Kent described how dissenting views were sidelined in the lead-up to strikes. Key officials, including himself, were reportedly barred from direct briefings with Trump. He said he spoke personally with the president before resigning – a conversation he described as “very respectful” – but felt staying would mean silencing his warnings.
“A good deal of key decision-makers were not allowed to come and express their opinion to the president,” Kent said, adding “There wasn’t a robust debate.“
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Header featured image (edited) credit: Mattie Neretin / CNP / Reuters / (The Atlantic article open public tease.) Emphasis added by (TLB)
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