US counterterrorism chief resigns with explosive statement on Trump and Iran
Photo: Joe Kent (x.com/NCTCKent)
US National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent has resigned. The reason was his disagreement with the US war against Iran, according to Kent’s post on X and CNN.
He wrote in a statement addressed to President Donald Trump that he could not support the war against Iran.
"It is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby," Kent wrote.
According to him, at the start of Trump’s second presidential term, his America First policy had been undermined by "high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media."
He wrote that this "echo chamber" had been used to mislead the President and make him believe that Iran posed an immediate threat to the United States and that there was a clear path to a quick victory if strikes were carried out now.
Kent added that, as a veteran and the husband of a fallen service member, he could not support sending Americans into a war that does not "justify the cost of American lives."
"The time for bold actions 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," he emphasized.
White House response
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump "had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first."
"The Commander-in-Chief determines what does and does not constitute a threat, because he is the one constitutionally empowered to do so - and because the American people went to the ballot box and entrusted him and him alone to make such final judgments," she said.
Leavitt called Kent’s claim that Trump decided to go to war with Iran under the influence of other countries an "absurd allegation."
Democrats oppose war with Iran
On March 4, it became known that Democratic US senators want to consider a resolution to take control over Trump’s new strikes on Iran.
The initiative has faced resistance from Republicans, who believe the US President needs to push the matter through.
