A senior US counterterrorism official announced his resignation on Tuesday in protest against the US-Israeli war against Iran, arguing that “the Islamic Republic does not pose an imminent threat to the United States.”
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Joseph Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said in his resignation letter to President Donald Trump.
Kent, a former U.S. Special Forces (Green Berets) member who fought in several battles before joining the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), asserted that “Iran did not pose an imminent threat to our country, and it is clear that we started this war as a result of pressure from Israel and its powerful lobby in the United States.”
Kent is the first senior US official to resign from the Trump administration in protest against the war against Iran.
Joseph Kent: Iran did not pose an imminent threat to our country, and it is clear that we started this war as a result of pressure from Israel and its powerful lobby... I cannot, in good conscience, support it.
He continued in his message, “Until June 2025, you were aware that the Middle East wars were a trap that drained the lives of our dear citizens and squandered the wealth and prosperity of our country.”
He added that “high-ranking Israeli officials and influential figures in the American media launched a disinformation campaign at the beginning of this administration that completely undermined your ‘America First’ slogan and promoted pro-war sentiments with the aim of pushing for a confrontation with Iran.”
He continued, “This system was used to deceive you and to say that Iran poses an imminent threat to the United States, and that launching a strike now will lead to a swift and clear victory.”
He argued that “this was a lie, and it is the same tactic that Israel used to drag us into the disastrous Iraq War, which cost our country the lives of thousands of our best men and women.”
He concluded, “I cannot support sending the next generation to fight and die in a war that brings no benefit to the American people and does not justify the cost of American lives.”
Commenting on the matter, Trump told reporters on Tuesday that Kent's resignation was "a good thing" because he was "very weak on security."
In his capacity as head of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, Kent headed an agency tasked with analyzing and monitoring terrorist threats.
Prior to joining the Trump administration, Kent ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Congress representing Washington state.
