A top Trump administration official who resigned in protest over President Donald Trump’s decision to wage war on Iran delivered a startling admission Wednesday that undercuts the U.S.'s vital justification to launch strikes.
Trump has repeatedly insisted that Iran posed an "imminent threat" to the United States and its allies, using that justification to launch coordinated strikes with Israel in late February. The administration has claimed the bombing campaign "completely obliterated" Iran's nuclear capabilities, a claim his own intelligence officials struggled to support under congressional questioning.
Joe Kent drew nationwide headlines when he stepped down as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, claiming the war was unnecessary and driven by Israeli pressure on the administration. He wrote that he “cannot in good conscience” support the ongoing war in Iran and therefore stepped down as director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
On Wednesday, he doubled down during a conversation with MAGA influencer and former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson.
“Was Iran on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon?” Carlson asked.
Kent delivered a blunt response.
“No. They weren't three weeks ago when this started, and they weren't in June either," he insisted.
Kent went further, claiming the country has a “fatwa,” an Islamic religious-legal ruling issued by a qualified scholar, against developing a nuclear weapon.
"That's available in the public sphere," he said.
To boot, the Trump administration's own intelligence doesn't support the president's justification for war.
"We had no intelligence to indicate that that fatwa was being disobeyed or was on the cusp of being lifted," he said.
Iran didn't want to abandon its nuclear position after seeing what happened to Muammar Gaddafi, the longtime authoritarian ruler of Libya who was overthrown and killed in 2011, Kent said.
"We regime changed him and he was executed by his own people in the most horrific way," Kent said.
TUCKER: “Was Iran on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon?”
JOE KENT: “No. They weren't three weeks ago when this started, and they weren't in June either.” pic.twitter.com/A80e81Hogq
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) March 18, 2026