WATCH: Johnson refutes outgoing counterterrorism official's claim that Iran posed no imminent threat

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson took issue with Joe Kent, the top U.S. counterterrorism official, who resigned Tuesday and said Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States.

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"I got all the briefings. We all understood that there was clearly an imminent threat that Iran was very close to the enrichment of nuclear capability and they were building missiles at a pace no one in the region could keep up with," said Johnson, who was asked about Kent's resignation at a press conference Tuesday morning.

READ MORE: Joe Kent, top counterterrorism official, says Iran posed no imminent threat as he resigns over Trump's war

Johnson said he is convinced that if the president had waited "we would have mass casualties of Americans, service members and others, and our installation would have been dramatically damaged."

Days after launching the war, Trump administration officials told congressional staff in private briefings that U.S. intelligence did not suggest Iran was preparing to launch a preemptive strike against the U.S.