President Trump’s director of the Nationwide Counterterrorism Heart, Joe Kent, introduced his fast resignation Tuesday, citing the choice to start a battle towards Iran when “Iran posed no imminent risk to our nation.”
Kent, nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate final 12 months, posted his resignation letter on X Tuesday morning, saying he “can not help sending the subsequent era off to combat and die in a battle that serves no profit to the American individuals nor justifies the price of American lives.”
“I can not in good conscience help the continued battle in Iran,” Kent wrote. “Iran posed no imminent risk to our nation, and it’s clear that we began this battle as a result of strain from Israel and its highly effective American foyer.”
He’s the highest-ranking Trump administration official to announce his resignation over the Iran battle.
Kent stated that earlier than final June, which is when the U.S. and Israel struck Iran’s nuclear amenities, the president “understood that wars within the Center East have been a lure that robbed America of the dear lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.” Kent is aware of the price of battle personally — his spouse, Shannon, was killed by suicide bomber in Syria in 2019, abandoning two boys.
He went on to accuse Israeli officers and a few within the media of orchestrating a deception that led Mr. Trump into the battle:
Early on this administration, high-ranking Israeli officers and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation marketing campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a battle with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent risk to the USA, and that ought to you strike now, there was a transparent path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is similar techniques the Israelis used to attract us into the disastrous Iraq battle that price the nation the lives of hundreds of our greatest women and men.
“You’ll be able to reverse course and chart a brand new path for our nation, or you’ll be able to permit us to slide additional towards decline and chaos,” he instructed the president. “You maintain the playing cards.”
As director of the Nationwide Counterterrorism Heart, Kent led U.S. counterterrorism and counternarcotics efforts and was the president’s principal counterterrorism adviser.
A retired Inexperienced Beret veteran, Kent was confirmed in July 2025, after Mr. Trump nominated him to the publish in February 2025.
The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
