Trump’s counterterrorism chief resigns over Iran war

Joe Kent on Tuesday stepped down as head of the National Counterterrorism Center, citing his opposition to the ongoing war in Iran.”After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today,” he said in an X post. ” I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran.”
“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,” he insisted.
Kent is the senior-most member of the administration to resign over the Iran conflict. He was a close ally of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who has a similar record of scrutinizing foreign entanglements.
In his letter of resignation, he told President Donald Trump that “I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term.”
“Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation,” he added.
He further warned Trump that he had been subjected to an “echo chamber” of false support for the war to lead him into the false impression that such a conflict held a “swift path to victory.”
Kent insisted that the Israelis had used the same tactics to lure the U.S. into the Iraq Qar and warned “we cannot make this mistake again.”
Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.

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