US National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigns over Iran war

WASHIGNTON: Joe Kent has resigned as director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, criticising the push toward war with Iran and warning that the United States risks being drawn into another prolonged conflict.

In a resignation letter addressed to US President Donald Trump, Kent said he had supported the values and foreign policies Trump campaigned on in 2016, 2020 and 2024, which he said were also reflected during Trump’s first term in office.

Kent wrote that during his first presidency, Trump had “understood better than any modern president how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars”.

However, Kent said 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 the campaign created what he described as an “echo chamber” that misled the president into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States.

“This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that you should strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory,” Kent wrote.

“This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq War,” he added.

Kent’s resignation comes amid rising tensions between the United States, Israel and Iran, with the conflict raising fears of a wider regional war.