Top Trump Counterterrorism Official Resigns over Iran War, Claims Israel Pushed U.S. into Conflict

A high-ranking counterterrorism official in the Trump administration resigned Tuesday over the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, and urged President Trump to change course.

National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent blamed Israel for dragging the U.S. into the war against Iran in a resignation letter he wrote to President Trump and shared on social media.

“After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today. 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,” Kent said.

Kent advised Trump to return to the foreign policy agenda he campaigned on and enacted in his first term, arguing that Trump had carried out targeted military strikes while avoiding protracted conflict.

To explain Trump’s change of heart, Kent asserted there has been a concerted “misinformation” campaign from the media and Israeli officials to convince Trump that Iran posed an imminent threat to America. Kent then made the unfounded claim that Israel also lied to drag the U.S. into the Iraq war; the Israeli government in fact opposed the invasion of Iraq.

A U.S. Army veteran with two decades of experience and eleven military deployments, Kent ran multiple GOP congressional campaigns in Washington’s 3rd district as a MAGA hardliner opposed to wars in the Middle East. His late wife, Shannon, died in a January 2019 suicide bombing during a deployment to Syria. Kent also claimed the war in Syria was “manufactured by Israel” and said it served no benefit to the American people.

Kent’s resignation is already being downplayed in MAGA world because of his antics and outlandish views. He was a defender of the January 6th Capitol attack and a critic of Ukraine when he ran for Congress in Washington.

“Joe Kent is a crazed egomaniac who was often at the center of national security leaks, while rarely (never?) producing any actual work. He spent all of his time working to subvert the chain of command and undermine the President of the United States. This isn’t some principled resignation—he just wanted to make a splash before getting canned. What a loser,” said Taylor Budowich, Trump’s former White House deputy chief of staff and a prominent MAGA consultant.

Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, a MAGA podcaster who remains supportive of the administration, dismissed Kent’s assertion that Iran was not an imminent threat.

“The Iranian theocracy was an imminent threat. They were committed to our destruction and anyone telling you otherwise is misleading you. Between their lethal plotting against US targets, their continued efforts to shield their attempt to reconstitute their nuclear program using ballistic missiles, their global terror support, and their destructive drone program, there’s zero doubt about the threat level. Zero,” Bongino said.

The Trump administration similarly dismissed Kent’s assessment of Iran’s threat level in a scathing statement about his resignation. The White House also emphasized Trump’s personal agency in his decision-making process.

“As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first.   This evidence was compiled from many sources and factors. President Trump would never make the decision to deploy military assets against a foreign adversary in a vacuum.   Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. The Iranian regime is evil. It proudly killed Americans, waged war against our country, and openly threatened us all the way up to the launch of Operation Epic Fury,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“President Trump ultimately made the determination that a joint attack with Israel would greatly reduce the risk to American lives that would come from a first strike by the terrorist Iranian regime and address this imminent threat to America’s national security interests.”

Kent is the first prominent Trump official to defect from the administration over the war in Iran. He worked under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, another senior Trump official known for her military service and opposition to drawn-out wars in the Middle East. Many of Trump’s top officials frequently touted his campaign promise not to start any new wars, a viewpoint Trump has tossed to the wayside after making it central to his political career.

The ongoing U.S.-Israeli military campaign, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, began at the end of February with strikes on top Iranian regime officials. Operation Epic Fury resulted in the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and numerous senior Iranian officials, but the Islamic regime remains in place. Iran’s regime insiders have chosen Khamenei’s son Mojtaba to rule the country, although he is believed to be injured from the same blast that killed his father and wife.

Operation Epic Fury is responsible for significantly depleting Iranian military capabilities and the Trump administration has emphasized this aspect of the war in its messaging. However, the war has led to 13 U.S. troop deaths and injuries to at least 200 warfighters. More than 1300 Iranians have been killed, including 175 people who were killed in a bombing at an elementary school in the southern Iranian town of Minab. Preliminary analysis suggests the school bombing was an accidental U.S. strike attributable to outdated targeting data.

Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz because of the war, unleashing an energy shock already impacting global markets. An extended closure of the strait could also lead to increased fertilizer prices and another round of global inflation. The Trump administration is exploring ways to re-open the strait and seeking help from allies in doing so, an effort that has initially been unsuccessful.