WASHINGTON, United States, March 19, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - The FBI was investigating allegations of leaking classified information against an ex-senior US counterterrorism official who quit in protest of the Iran war, US media reported Wednesday.

The probe predated Joseph Kent's shock departure on Tuesday as director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), reported outlets including the New York Times and CBS, both citing unnamed sources.

In his resignation letter to US President Donald Trump, Kent wrote that "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."

A source told news website Semafor that the investigation was "months-long".

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In an interview with right-wing broadcaster Tucker Carlson posted late Wednesday, 45-year-old Kent doubled down on his view that Iran was not an imminent threat to the United States.

"There was no intelligence that said, 'Hey, on whatever day it was... the Iranians are going to launch this big sneak attack. They're going to do some kind of a 9/11 Pearl Harbor,'" said Kent, a ex-special forces soldier.

He said Israel "drove the decision" to go to war, with the United States knowing that the Iranians would retaliate.

"I think that it's fine that we offer defense to Israel. But when we're providing the means for their defense, we get to dictate the terms of when they go on the offensive," he added.

Kent was appointed by Trump to head the NCTC, where he worked under Tulsi Gabbard to analyze and coordinate the US response to terrorist threats and served as the principal counterterrorism adviser to the president.

On Tuesday, the Republican president accused Kent of being "very weak on security" and said it's a "good thing that he's out."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back against what she called "false claims" in Kent's resignation letter, calling "insulting and laughable" the suggestion that the decision to go to war was made "based on the influence of others."

"As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first," Leavitt said.