Iran War Protest: Top US Counterterrorism Official Resigns

WASHINGTON – The director of the National Counterterrorism Center resigned Tuesday to protest the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, stating the Islamic Republic poses no imminent threat to the United States.

Senior Official Resigns in Protest

Joseph Kent, in his resignation letter to President Donald Trump, said, “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran.” Kent, a former Green Beret with multiple combat tours, asserted that the war began due to pressure from Israel and its American lobby.

Kent is the first senior U.S. official to resign from the Trump administration in protest of the war against Iran. He wrote to Trump that, until June of 2025, the president “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.”

According to Kent, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media launched a misinformation campaign that undermined Trump’s “America First” platform and encouraged war with Iran. He claims this campaign deceived Trump into believing Iran posed an imminent threat and that a swift victory was achievable.

“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 stated.

Kent concluded by saying he could not support sending another generation to fight and die in a war that does not benefit the American people or justify the cost of American lives.