National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigned abruptly on Tuesday in protest of President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, now in its third week, lobbing unproven accusations that Israel has repeatedly lured the United States into conflicts.

“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 in his resignation letter to Trump.

The former Green Beret criticized Israel in harsh and at times feverish terms, bizarrely accusing the country of also being responsible for U.S. involvement in the 2003 Iraq War and of “manufacturing” the Syrian Civil War. Notably, Kent did not mention Trump’s own actions that made war more likely, from ordering a weeks-long military buildup to repeatedly undercutting U.S. diplomacy with Iran.

Kent, a political appointee who was confirmed with a 52-44 vote last summer, was found to have connections to right-wing extremists during a past congressional run. He once reportedly called Adolf Hitler a “complicated historical figure” who “many people misunderstand.”

As NCC director, he served under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, a longtime critic of overseas military entanglements who has offered scant commentary on Trump’s decision to start another war in the Middle East. Apparently in response to Kent’s departure, Gabbard posted a statement on the limits of her role in shaping the president’s decisions.

Trump has struggled to explain why he agreed to attack Iran when he did, alluding to vague threats the nation posed to U.S. interests, as Americans start seeing higher costs at home. Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed and around 200 injured in the conflict so far.

Kent said in his letter that he supported “the values and foreign policies” that Trump campaigned on in his past three presidential campaigns. Trump went so far as to dub himself the “President of Peace” in the last election cycle.

Kent believes, however, that “high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined” Trump’s platform and “sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.”

He went on, delving deeper into the supposed conspiracy: “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.”

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… pic.twitter.com/prtu86DpEr

“You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos,” Kent told Trump. “You hold the cards.”

Trump has repeatedly fueled tensions with Iran despite efforts by others, including some of his own advisers, to prevent escalations.

In his first presidency, he unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from an international agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program, negotiated under President Barack Obama, and ordered the assassination of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani — a move that Kent praised in his letter.

Both decisions soured Tehran’s view of Washington in general, and Trump in particular, hamstringing Trump’s effort in his current presidency to negotiate with Iran for a new nuclear deal. Trump’s march to war was heavily influenced by his choice to entrust that diplomacy to non-experts — specifically two fellow real estate businessmen, his special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kusher — and by the sense he has created across the administration that dissenting opinions are undesirable or grounds for retaliation.

Kent, a veteran with 11 combat deployments under his belt, lost his wife, Shannon, in 2019 when she was hit by a suicide bomber in Syria while working in Navy intelligence. He was left to raise the couple’s two children.

He referenced both of these facts in his letter, saying that he “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.”

The Trump administration and its allies pushed back hard against his accusations — particularly the idea that Iran posed no imminent threat.

“I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security,” the president told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on X that “the absurd allegation that President Trump made this decision based on the influence of others, even foreign countries, is both insulting and laughable.”

“President Trump has been remarkably consistent and has said for DECADES that Iran can NEVER possess a nuclear weapon,” she added, although experts have said Iran was not close to obtaining such a weapon. Last June, Trump ordered a massive bombing operation to damage Iranian nuclear facilities.

Taylor Budowich, a former deputy chief of staff in the Trump White House, smeared Kent as a “crazed egomaniac who was often at the center of national security leaks, while rarely (never?) producing any actual work.”

“This isn’t some principled resignation — he just wanted to make a splash before getting canned. What a loser,” Budowich said on X.

“I don’t know where Joe Kent is getting his information,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill. Johnson added said that he attended national security meetings with other Gang of Eight lawmakers — top Republicans and Democrats in both chambers of Congress — and that the group was shown evidence of an imminent threat.

But Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who was also in the meetings, has said that was not the case.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also agreed with Kent’s core point, writing on X, “Kent and I don’t agree on much, but he is right” on the threat level posed by Iran.

Elsewhere, the reaction to Kent was mixed. Some cautioned against putting too much stock in anything Kent said due to his controversial past and the way in which his letter blames Israel.

Amy Spitalnick, director of the progressive Jewish Council for Public Affairs, called Kent “an extremist with deep ties to Nazi sympathizers and Holocaust deniers who never should have been in this role in the first place (sadly one of many in this administration).”

“You can vehemently criticize the Israeli government & oppose the war without engaging in dangerous conspiratorial tropes. Amplifying it further normalizes it,” she stated.

Akbar Shahid Ahmed contributed reporting.

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