Washington DC [US], March 19 (ANI): The decision to start the US-Israel-Iran confrontation was heavily influenced by Israel, former Director of the US National Counterterrorism Centre Joe Kent told Tucker Carlson in a detailed discussion on the perceived nuclear threat from Iran, on the Tucker Carlson Show.

'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 said, highlighting Israel's central role in the escalation.

Carlson questioned Kent on whether Iran was truly close to obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Kent dismissed the notion, saying, 'No, they weren't three weeks ago when this started, and they weren't in June either. I mean, the Iranians have had a religious ruling, a fatwa, against actually developing a nuclear weapon since 2004. That's been in place since 2004. That's available in the public sphere. But then also, we had no intelligence to indicate that that fatwa was being disobeyed or it was on the cusp of being lifted.'

Kent further emphasised that the threat of an imminent Iranian attack was not substantiated.

'The President, Secretary of State and Speaker all said the attack was carried out because the Israelis were about to strike. Had they not said that, proving otherwise would have been very difficult. There's simply no case that Iran was planning an immediate attack. It did not exist,' he added.

Carlson also sought Kent's insights on the potential impact of the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Kent responded, 'I don't think the Ayatollah feared dying. Not because he's some crazy lunatic but because he knew if he was killed the regime would survive.'

Earlier, US President Donald Trump reacted to the resignation of Joseph Kent, Director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, stating that his exit was 'a good thing' while criticising his stance on Iran.

Answering a reporter's query on Joe Kent's resignation over his objections to the war with Iran, Trump said, 'I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security. But when I read his statement, I realised that it's a good thing that he's out because he said that Iran was not a threat. Every country realised what a threat Iran was...' (ANI)