Joe Kent’s Insights on U.S. Intel and the Iran War

Joe Kent, who previously led the National Counterterrorism Center, expressed concerns on X regarding the U.S. intelligence community’s stance before the war with Iran. He stated that prior to the conflict’s onset, intelligence agencies, including the CIA, had reached a consensus that Iran was not actively developing nuclear weapons.

In his post, Kent mentioned, “One of the many tragedies of this war is that before it began, U.S. intelligence agencies agreed that Iran had not developed nuclear weapons. They also recognized that military actions from Israel and the U.S. would likely provoke Iran to target U.S. bases in the area and close the Strait of Hormuz.” He added that the intelligence community had correctly assessed that striking at Iran’s leadership would only serve to fortify the regime and empower hardliners. Despite the thoroughness of their evaluations, he feels that narratives pushed by foreign entities, particularly Israel, swayed public opinion and resulted in the war.

Kent emphasized, “We need to understand exactly why this happened to ensure that we never find ourselves in a situation like this again.”

After resigning from his role in March, Kent revealed in his book that he couldn’t support the ongoing conflict with Iran, asserting that it wasn’t an imminent threat to the U.S. He claimed that U.S. involvement was largely influenced by Israel’s strong lobby.

In a response to Kent’s allegations, former President Donald Trump denied having pushed Israel into any war with Iran, asserting on Truth Social that Israel never approached him with plans for conflict. He stated, “The outcome of October 7th further reinforced my lifelong belief that Iran could never acquire nuclear weapons,” referring to a significant terrorist attack on Israel.