The director of the United States National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, announced on Tuesday that he has resigned because of the ongoing war with Iran.
He stated that Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States and argued that the conflict began due to pressure from Israel. Kent said he made his decision after careful reflection.
In a letter addressed to United States President Donald Trump, Kent wrote that he could not support the war. He said Iran did not present an immediate danger to the country and claimed that the United States had entered the conflict under pressure from Israel and its influential American lobby.
In the letter, Kent also expressed disappointment over the conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, saying it offers no real benefit to the American people. He shared that he lost his wife Shannon in a similar war and noted that he himself is a veteran who has been deployed to combat eleven times.
He wrote that, as both a veteran and a Gold Star husband, he cannot support sending another generation to fight and die in a war that does not serve the interests of the American people or justify the loss of American lives.
Kent, once a strong supporter of Trump, had backed him and his foreign policies during the presidential elections of 2016, 2020, and 2024. He said that until June 2025, Trump understood that wars in the Middle East drained American lives and weakened the nation’s prosperity.
Addressing Trump directly, Kent praised his earlier leadership, saying that during his first administration he showed how to use military power decisively without dragging the country into prolonged conflicts. He pointed to actions such as the killing of Qasem Soleimani and the defeat of ISIS as examples.
However, Kent suggested that Trump was misled into the current war by an echo chamber of senior Israeli officials and influential figures in the American media. According to him, this group promoted a misinformation campaign that undermined the America First approach and encouraged pro war sentiment by portraying Iran as an immediate threat.
Kent warned that this narrative was false and compared it to the same tactics he believes were used to draw the United States into the Iraq war, which resulted in heavy losses of American lives. He urged that the country should not repeat that mistake.
He concluded by urging Trump to reflect on the situation in Iran and reconsider the direction of the conflict. Kent said that Trump has the power to change course and choose a different path for the nation. He ended his letter by calling it an honor to have served in the administration and the country.
