MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US counterterrorism chief resigns over Iran war

Kent’s departure cuts at one of the White House’s core arguments for the strikes

Joe Kent, director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, resigned on Tuesday with immediate effect, saying he could not support Washington’s war against Iran in what became the first high-level public break inside Donald Trump’s national security apparatus since the offensive began. Kent said Tehran had posed no “imminent threat” to the United States.

In a social media statement and in a letter sent to Trump, Kent said he “cannot in good conscience” support the current war and argued that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.” He also said the conflict began because of “pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” a charge Trump publicly rejected.

Kent’s departure cuts at one of the White House’s core arguments for the strikes. Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said he had always considered Kent “weak on security” and insisted Iran was “a tremendous threat.” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard defended the president’s position, saying Trump reviewed the available information and concluded that Iran posed an imminent danger.

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

— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) March 17, 2026

Kent was not a marginal official. A former Green Beret and CIA officer, he was confirmed by the Senate in July 2025 by a 52-44 vote to lead the agency responsible for analysing and detecting terrorist threats. His appointment had already drawn heavy Democratic opposition because of his past ties to far-right figures and his support for conspiracy theories linked to the 2021 Capitol attack.

The resignation triggered immediate reaction in Washington. Trump and other Republicans moved quickly to discredit him, while Democratic Senator Mark Warner, the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Kent was right on one key point: there was no “credible and confirmed” evidence of an imminent Iranian threat that justified rushing the United States into another elective war in the Middle East. Other Democrats, however, stressed that Kent’s own political record remains deeply troubling.

The resignation lays bare tensions inside Trump’s coalition over another Middle East war. Kent is the first senior administration official to publicly break with the White House line on Iran, at a time when the administration is trying to defend both the military rationale for the campaign and its political consequences.