Top Trump counterterrorism official Joe Kent resigns over Iran, saying it “posed no imminent threat to our nation”

President Trump‘s director of the Nationwide Counterterrorism Heart, Joe Kent, introduced his rapid resignation Tuesday, citing the choice to start a battle in opposition to Iran when “Iran posed no imminent menace to our nation.”

Kent, nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate final 12 months, posted his resignation letter on X Tuesday morning, saying he “can’t assist sending the subsequent technology off to struggle and die in a battle that serves no profit to the American folks nor justifies the price of American lives.” 

“I can’t in good conscience assist the continuing battle in Iran,” Kent wrote. “Iran posed no imminent menace to our nation, and it’s clear that we began this battle attributable to stress from Israel and its highly effective American foyer.”

He’s the highest-ranking Trump administration official to announce his resignation over the Iran battle. 

The White Home took challenge with Kent’s assertion that “Iran posed no imminent menace.” Mr. Trump was additionally requested about Kent’s resignation throughout a gathering with the Irish prime minister Tuesday.

“I learn his assertion,” the president instructed reporters within the Oval Workplace. “I at all times thought he was a pleasant man. However I at all times thought he was weak on safety, very weak on safety.” 

“After I learn his assertion, I noticed that it is a good factor that he is out, as a result of he mentioned Iran was not a menace,” Mr. Trump continued. “Iran was a menace — each nation realized what a menace Iran was.”

White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned in an announcement posted on X that there have been “many false claims” in Kent’s letter to the president, and he or she took challenge together with his assertion that Iran didn’t pose an imminent menace to the U.S.  

“This is similar false declare that Democrats and a few within the liberal media have been repeating time and again,” she mentioned. “As President Trump has clearly and explicitly said, he had sturdy and compelling proof that Iran was going to assault america first.”

Kent mentioned that earlier than final June, which is when the U.S. and Israel struck Iran’s nuclear services, the president “understood that wars within the Center East had been a entice that robbed America of the dear lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.” Kent is aware of the price of battle personally — his spouse, Shannon, was killed by suicide bomber in Syria in 2019, abandoning two boys. 

He went on to accuse Israeli officers and a few within the media of orchestrating a deception that led Mr. Trump into the battle: 

Early on this administration, high-ranking Israeli officers and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation marketing campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a battle with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent menace to america, and that ought to you strike now, there was a transparent path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is similar techniques the Israelis used to attract us into the disastrous Iraq battle that price the nation the lives of hundreds of our greatest women and men.

“You may reverse course and chart a brand new path for our nation, or you may permit us to slide additional towards decline and chaos,” he instructed the president. “You maintain the playing cards.”

Vice President JD Vance, requested about Kent’s resignation on Wednesday in Michigan, mentioned no person likes battle, and he additionally mentioned he and the president each like Kent. Vance mentioned the president is keen to hearken to individuals who disagree. 

“That mentioned, no matter your view is, when the president of america decides, it is your job to assist make that call as efficient and profitable as attainable,” Vance mentioned. “And so the president mentioned this yesterday, in case you are on the staff and you’ll’t assist implement the choices of his administration, he has the proper to make these choices, then it is a good factor so that you can resign.”

Kent, a retired Inexperienced Beret who served in 11 fight excursions, was nominated to the counterterrorism submit in February 2025 and confirmed in July 2025. His nomination faced some scrutiny when emails emerged exhibiting that whereas he was chief of workers to Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, he had pressed senior intelligence analysts to amend an evaluation of hyperlinks between the Venezuelan authorities and the legal gang, Tren de Aragua. Within the emails, Kent pressed the analysts to align the evaluation extra intently with Trump administration insurance policies and to incorporate references that criticized Biden-era immigration packages.

Kent has endorsed quite a lot of conspiracy theories and brought controversial positions prior to now. He is claimed the COVID vaccine wasn’t a vaccine, however somewhat, “an experimental gene remedy” and has additionally mentioned Anthony Fauci, the previous head of the Nationwide Institute of Allergy and Infectious Illnesses, ought to face murder prices. Kent additionally mentioned he believes the 2020 election was stolen from Mr. Trump and has referred to the Jan. 6, 2021, rioters as “political prisoners.” 

In 2022, he ran for Congress in Washington’s third Congressional District and gained the GOP major, unseating Republican incumbent Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, however he misplaced the overall election to Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. Kent ran once more in 2024, however misplaced to Gluesenkamp Perez. 

Kent has been a detailed ally of Gabbard, who personally endorsed his congressional bids. In an announcement Tuesday that didn’t point out Kent, Gabbard, who oversees the Nationwide Counterterrorism Heart, mentioned that the president “is answerable for figuring out what’s and isn’t an imminent menace.” She didn’t voice her views on the battle or say the intelligence led her to any specific conclusions.

“Donald Trump was overwhelmingly elected by the American folks to be our President and Commander in Chief,” she wrote on X. “As our Commander in Chief, he’s answerable for figuring out what’s and isn’t an imminent menace, and whether or not or to not take motion he deems needed to guard the security and safety of our troops, the American folks and our nation.”

“After fastidiously reviewing all the data earlier than him, President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent menace and he took motion primarily based on that conclusion,” she mentioned.

An administration official mentioned Kent was not concerned on briefings on Iran and that Gabbard has been in contact with the White Home since Kent’s resignation earlier Tuesday. The official denied a Fox News report that Gabbard was requested by the White Home to fireside him and mentioned that if she had been requested to take action, she would have.  

As director of the Nationwide Counterterrorism Heart, Kent led U.S. counterterrorism and counternarcotics efforts and was the president’s principal counterterrorism adviser. 

Correction: A earlier model of this text misstated the company Dr. Anthony Fauci led.