Joe Kent says Trump was ‘poised’ for better Iran deal than JCPOA before war
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Before the war in Iran, President Donald Trump was “ready” to strike a “better deal” with the regime than the Barack Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, former National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent said in an article published Thursday on X.
“Before letting the Israelis lead us into this war, President Trump was actually close to making a better deal than the JCPOA (aka the Obama-Iran deal),” Kent wrote.
“The Iranians feared and respected Trump in a way they never respected Obama: he took out terrorism mastermind Qasem Soleimani, but he was cautious enough not to get dragged into the quicksand of another Middle East quagmire that would only favor Iran and strengthen its hardliners,” he continued.
US intelligence community agreed before war: ‘Iran was not developing nuclear weapons’: former counterterrorism chief
Joseph Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing in Washington, DC, December 11, 2025. (Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“That’s why, upon returning to power in January 2025, the Iranians stopped their proxies from attacking us and were immediately open to negotiations,” Kent added.
Kent, who left the counterterrorism post in March over his opposition to the war in Iran, asserted in his Thursday article that Trump could “still turn things around” on the issue.
“President Trump can still turn things around, but he must break the cycle of impasse we find ourselves in: breaking the military stalemate. Holding back the Israelis. Leveraging the potential for sanctions relief to open the Strait of Hormuz and reach a new deal on the nuclear issue,” he advised.
Former counterterrorism chief says Trump must restrain Israel before he can declare victory in Iran
President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a state banquet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
In response to Fox News Digital’s request for comment from the White House on Thursday, spokesperson Davis Ingle provided a statement criticizing Kent.
“Joe Kent’s self-aggrandizing resignation letter and his recent comments are riddled with lies. Most egregious are Kent’s false claims that the largest state sponsor of terrorism did not pose a threat to the United States and that Israel had forced the president to launch Operation Epic Fury. As commander in chief, President Trump took decisive action based on solid evidence that demonstrated that the Iranian terrorist regime posed an imminent threat and was preparing to strike the Americans First. President Trump’s number one priority has always been ensuring the safety and security of the American people,” Ingle said in the statement.
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander Admiral Brad Cooper said that in the 30 months before Operation Epic Fury began, “Iran and its proxies attacked U.S. service members and diplomats approximately 350 times… approximately every three days.”
But Kent claimed in an article on When Trump returned to power in January 2025, these attacks stopped. »
SHIP SEIZED NEAR THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ BY “UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL”, TAKEN TO IRAN
Commander, United States Central Command (CENTCOM), Navy Adm. Brad Cooper testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 14, 2026, in Washington, DC (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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“Iran has stopped [sic] his proxies to attack us because they knew Trump would retaliate and they wanted to reach a deal with Trump. A deal was in the works, that deal would have thwarted Israel’s goal of getting us into a war with Iran, so Israel did everything it could to drag us into a war with Iran,” he added.
“Iran has withheld its proxies and the protests against the regime in January show that Trump’s maximum pressure and campaign of targeted strategic strikes have worked. Tragically, this success has been squandered by letting the Israelis lead our decision-making,” Kent asserted.
