New Delhi: In the first resignation by a senior official in the Trump administration over the war against Iran, the director of the US Counterterrorism Centre, Republican Joe Kent, has resigned from his position, saying that the war is “manufactured by Israel” and that Iran “posed no imminent threat to the nation”.
This comes three weeks after a series of US-Israeli strikes against Iran ignited the war in West Asia.
Kent, who was appointed by Trump in July 2025, posted on X that he “cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” adding that “it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby”.
In a letter to US President Donald Trump—which Kent posted on social media—he said, “…high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign…that sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran”.
He also drew a parallel with the Iraq war. “This echo chamber was used to deceive you (Trump) 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.”
He then asked Trump to “reverse the course,” commenting, “you hold the cards”.
“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 wrote.
“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 by defeating ISIS.”
Joe Kent, a former U.S. Army Green Beret and CIA paramilitary officer, was the Republican nominee for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District in both 2022 and 2024, but he lost both elections.
He concluded his letter to Trump, saying, “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 our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards. It was an honour to serve in your administration and to serve our great nation.”
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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