BREAKING: Joe Kent resigns from National Counterterrorism Center over Iran war

"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 wrote in a letter to Trump announcing his resignation. Kent had been appointed to the position by Trump in early 2025.

https://twitter.com/joekent16jan19/status/2033897242986209689?s=20

"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. In your first administration, you understood better than any modern President how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars. You demonstrated this by killing Qasam Solamani and defeating ISIS."

He wrote that early in Trump’s second term, "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 that 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."

"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. We cannot make this mistake again," Kent wrote.

He said that as a Gold Star husband who lost his wife Shannon and as a combat veteran himself, "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."

"I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for. The time for bold action is now. You can reverse course and chart a new path for your nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards," Kent concluded. "It was an honor to serve in your administration and to serve our great nation."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Kent’s letter included "many false claims," but took aim at Kent saying "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation."

https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/2033932810709315865?s=20

Leavitt wrote, "This is the same false claim that Democrats and some in the liberal media have been repeating over and over. 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. Iran was aggressively expanding their short-range ballistic missiles to combine with their naval assets to give themselves immunity – meaning they would have a degree of a capabilities that would give them immunity to hold us and the rest of the world hostage. The regime aimed to use those ballistic missiles as a shield to continue achieving their ultimate goal – nuclear weapons."

She wrote that Trump, through negotiators, "gave the regime every single possible opportunity to abandon this unacceptable course by permanently giving up their nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief, free nuclear fuel, and potential economic partnerships with our country. But they would not say yes to peace because obtaining nuclear weapons was their fundamental goal."

"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."