# "Iran posed no threat" > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: ""Iran posed no threat"," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-posed-no-threat/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *John Kiriakou's core objection to the 2026 war, stated as a chain of negatives: Iran had no nuclear weapon, no nuclear weapons programme, no wish for one, a religious ruling against one, and no delivery system if it had had one, findings he says were confirmed twice by the CIA and by the IAEA.* - **The claim:** "Iran posed no threat to the United States. None" - **Confirmations cited:** The CIA, twice; the International Atomic Energy Agency - **Further points:** No wish for a weapon; a fatwa against developing one; no delivery system - **Kiriakou's question:** "Why are Americans dying in the name of Israeli foreign policy?" **"Iran posed no threat"** is the sentence with which [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) answered a viewer who asked, sympathetically, why he and his co-host were so opposed to the 2026 attack and whether Iran was not extremely dangerous if left alone. ## The chain of negatives Kiriakou's answer was structured as a series of removals. *"Iran posed no threat to the United States. None. None. It had no nuclear weapon. It had no nuclear weapons program."*[1] He grounds that in institutional findings rather than opinion: *"That was confirmed twice by the CIA and by the International Atomic Energy Agency."*[1] To the absence of a programme he adds the absence of an intention, *"And didn't want one"*, and the religious prohibition: *"And there was a fatwa against developing one."*[1] The last removal concerns capability even on the contrary assumption: *"And even if they had one, they didn't have a delivery system to to deliver it."*[1][2] ## The question that follows With the threat removed, Kiriakou treats the war as requiring some other explanation, and supplies one. *"So, um you know, why are we doing Israel's dirty work for it? If the Israelis want to attack Iran, then go ahead and attack Iran. But why did we have to do it? Why are Americans dying in the name of Israeli foreign policy?"*[2] That framing runs through his commentary on the war: he identifies [Marco Rubio and Benjamin Netanyahu](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/marco-rubio-and-iran-policy) as the two figures actually driving the policy, and describes [chaos, not disarmament](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/chaos-as-the-israeli-objective), as the Israeli objective.[3][4] ## The irony The consequence Kiriakou finds most pointed is that the war destroyed its own premise. Asked about the oddity of waging a war over nuclear weapons and killing the leader who had issued the ruling against them, his response was *"Exactly right"*, followed by the prediction that the next supreme leader *"is just going to issue a new fatwa revoking the old fatwa and calling for a nuclear uh uh weapons program."*[5] ## See also - [Killing Khamenei](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/killing-khamenei) - [Marco Rubio and Iran policy](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/marco-rubio-and-iran-policy) - [Iran Nuclear Assessment](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-nuclear-assessment) - [Forcing Iran toward a bomb](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/forcing-iran-toward-a-bomb) ## Sources 1. John Kiriakou & Ted Rall's Live IRAN WAR Q&A / DeProgram Show (2026-03-01), at 19:19. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swDJSeo-Et0&t=1159s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-ted-rall-s-live-iran-war-q-a-de/ 2. John Kiriakou & Ted Rall's Live IRAN WAR Q&A / DeProgram Show (2026-03-01), at 19:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swDJSeo-Et0&t=1191s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-ted-rall-s-live-iran-war-q-a-de/ 3. John Kiriakou & Ted Rall's Live IRAN WAR Q&A / DeProgram Show (2026-03-01), at 14:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swDJSeo-Et0&t=878s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-ted-rall-s-live-iran-war-q-a-de/ 4. John Kiriakou & Ted Rall's Live IRAN WAR Q&A / DeProgram Show (2026-03-01), at 20:52. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swDJSeo-Et0&t=1252s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-ted-rall-s-live-iran-war-q-a-de/ 5. John Kiriakou & Ted Rall's Live IRAN WAR Q&A / DeProgram Show (2026-03-01), at 20:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swDJSeo-Et0&t=1222s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-ted-rall-s-live-iran-war-q-a-de/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-posed-no-threat/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt