Trump's top counterterrorism aide resigns in protest over war on Iran

Kent attends a hearing entitled "Worldwide Threats to the Homeland," on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US on December 11, 2025. (Photo/Reuters)

Joseph Kent, the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, has officially resigned from his post in the Trump administration, marking a significant act of dissent regarding the ongoing military campaign against Iran. In his resignation letter, Kent, a former Green Beret, asserted that Iran presented no imminent security threat to the United States and argued that the push for war was a direct result of external pressure from Israeli officials and influential media lobbies. He explicitly characterized the justifications for the conflict as a misinformation campaign, drawing direct parallels to the flawed intelligence that preceded the invasion of Iraq. Kent emphasized that he could not morally support a war he believes offers no benefit to American citizens while risking the lives of service members.

Joseph Kent has resigned as the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center in protest of the war against Iran.
Kent maintains that Iran does not pose an imminent threat to national security.
The official alleges that Israeli officials and American lobbying groups manufactured the war effort.
Kent criticizes the administration's reliance on deceptive intelligence, comparing it to the Iraq war.
The resignation highlights deep administrative friction regarding the cost of interventionist policies.

A senior US counterterrorism official has resigned to protest the US-Israeli war against Iran and said the Islamic Republic posed no imminent threat to the United States.

"I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran," Joseph Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said on Tuesday in his resignation letter to President Donald Trump.

Kent — a former member of the Green Beret special forces who served multiple combat tours — said: "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."

Kent is the first senior US official to resign from the Trump administration to protest the war against Iran.

"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," Kent said in his letter to Trump.

"Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran," he said.

"This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory," he said.

"This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women," Kent said.

"I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives," he added.

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Source: TRT