Ali Larijani, the late Iranian security figure killed in a recent U.S.-Israeli strike, had been eager to negotiate a deal with Washington, former U.S. National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent said Wednesday.
Kent, a 20-year U.S. Army Special Forces combat veteran and former CIA paramilitary officer who later headed the counterterrorism agency, made the comments in an interview with well-known conservative commentator Tucker Carlson the day after resigning.
"We just killed, you know, Ali Larijani, who was a negotiator, who was eager to get us a deal again,” Joe Kent said, expressing concern that the killing of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary might garner support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
"If you give the IRGC a reason to take more control, and they get support from the people, because again, you kill off the Ayatollah, they can say, hey, the last guy was too moderate. Look at what it got us. Like, give us more, more control. And the Iranian people are gonna be like, well, actually, yeah, I don't like getting bombed by the Americans and Israelis. Maybe we do need to listen to the IRGC,” Kent said.
Iranian authorities said Larijani was killed early Tuesday in a U.S.-Israeli strike that also claimed the lives of his son Morteza, his aide Alireza Bayat, several council staff members, and bodyguards.
