Former US counterterror chief Joe Kent blames Israel for Iran war

Joe Kent, Trump's former counterterror chief who resigned this week in protest at the Iran war, has accused White House advisors and pro-Israel lobbyists of manipulating the US president into launching the war.

In an interview with US commentator Tucker Carlson, Kent said that a small group of Trump's confidantes prevented him from accessing intelligence about Iran, leading him to believe that the country posed an imminent threat to the United States.

"Key decision-makers were not allowed to express their opinion to the president," the former special forces soldier said on the podcast.

"There was a clear gap between the intelligence and then the information that the president was given."

He also alleged that pro-Israel think tanks and media figures in the US worked alongside Israeli government officials to increase pressure on the administration to launch an attack.

His comments came a day after he resigned as director of the US National Counterterrorism Centre in a letter publicly refuting Trump's claims that Iran had posed an imminent threat.

"I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. 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," he wrote in the letter posted on social media.

He continued: "Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran."

Since his resignation, Kent has been criticised by government officials and media figures, who have alleged that his decision was motivated by antisemitism.

Trump lashed out at his former counterterror chief in the White House on Tuesday, calling him "very weak on security". Meanwhile, the FBI has opened a probe into allegations that he leaked classified information.

In what was the first interview since his resignation, Kent reiterated that there was no intelligence that Iran was working to develop nuclear weapons and claimed Israel forced Trump's hand.

Several high-ranking US government officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have suggested that Israel played a key role in bringing the US into the war.

"The Israelis felt emboldened that no matter what they did, no matter what situation they out us in, that they could go ahead and take this action and we would just have to react," Kent told Carlson.