‘Cannot in good conscience’: Trump’s counterterrorism chief quits over Iran war
WASHINGTON— Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned abruptly Tuesday, becoming the highest-ranking national security official to publicly break with the Trump administration over its military campaign against Iran.
One Statement published on social mediaKent said he could not “in good conscience” continue to serve in the administration, arguing that Iran “does not pose an imminent threat to our nation” and that the United States was drawn into the conflict due to “pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
“I cannot support sending the next generation to fight and die in a war that provides no benefit to the American people and does not justify the cost of American lives,” Kent said in a letter addressed to President Trump. “I pray that you will consider what we are doing in Iran and who we are doing it for.”
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump dismissed Kent’s concerns and told reporters that he had long believed Kent, whom he nominated for the post in February 2025, was “very weak from a security standpoint.” The president insisted that Iran has been a “long-standing threat” to the United States and said that was “a good thing.” [Kent’s] outside.”
The resignation comes at an uncertain moment for the administration. The conflict, initially sold to the Americans as swift and contained, is now in its third week, with fraying alliances, renewed missile and drone attacks from Iran on Gulf Arab states, new Israeli attacks on Iran and Lebanon, mounting casualties and the absence of a clear exit strategy.
“If we leave right now, it will take them 10 years to rebuild,” Trump told reporters. “We’re not ready to leave yet, but we will leave in the near future. We will leave in the very near future.”
Uncertainty about what will happen after the end of hostilities was further increased on Tuesday when Israel killed the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, as well as Gholamreza Soleimani, head of Iran’s militia, the Basij.
Trump referred to the slain Iranian officials without naming them, saying one was “at the real top” while the other was responsible for the killing of 32,000 Iranian protesters in recent weeks.
“This is an evil group,” Trump said of Iran’s leadership.
Experts say Larijani’s killing is expected to leave a gap in the diplomatic and institutional experience in Iran, as he is perceived as “the last of the talented bunch” within the Iranian leadership.
According to Benjamin Radd, a senior fellow and political scientist at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Affairs, those who remain in power “are generally not the smartest people, not the people who understand the intricacies of diplomacy, what it’s like to negotiate with the United States.”
With Larijani’s death, what remained was essentially “a country ruled by a military junta, ruled by various forces.” [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] numbers,” Radd said. “We’re really going to be moving towards more of a military-style dictatorship – behind the clerical garb, so to speak.”
Developments on the battlefield did little to reassure Washington’s closest allies; Despite Trump’s calls in recent days for allied countries to send warships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil route threatened by Iran’s war efforts, most have refused to join the war.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said he had been informed by most of the United States’ NATO allies that: “I don’t want to get involved” in the expanding war in the Middle East — and claimed that the American military no longer needed or wanted their help.
“Speaking as the President of the United States of America, by far the most powerful country in the world, WE DON’T NEED ANYONE’S HELP!” Trump wrote.
Trump cannot unilaterally remove the United States from NATO. In 2023, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Marco Rubio, then-Republican Senator from Florida and now Trump’s secretary of state, successfully introduced a measure that would prevent any president from removing the United States from the treaty organization without Senate approval or Congressional action.
Rubio said at the time: “The Senate must oversee whether our nation withdraws from NATO. We must ensure that we protect our national interests and the security of our democratic allies.”
Radd argued that Trump’s recent words about the need for NATO allies were seen as a result of his mishandling at the beginning of the conflict with Iran, which was trying to expand the war by targeting the Gulf Cooperation Council countries around the Persian Gulf.
When Trump began demanding that many other countries join the war effort or at least protect the Strait of Hormuz, he said this was “Trump’s attempt to expand the war in the other direction.”
This was a maneuver based in part on the fact that other nations, including China and Europe, are much more dependent on oil from the region than the United States. But Radd said it was a “clumsy” move given Trump’s past alienation from NATO allies, including a major speech in Davos, Switzerland, in January, in which Trump “basically shamed and criticized NATO and European states.”
Radd said it was “clumsy” to call on allies to “stand up” after mocking them.
Departure of intelligence official
As uncertainty loomed abroad, Kent’s resignation resonated in Washington, where it exposed new divisions over the administration’s handling of the war.
On Capitol Hill, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters that Kent did not know “where he got his information” and concluded that Iran did not pose an imminent threat. He said Trump administration officials claimed in classified briefings that “they had excellent intelligence and understood this was a serious moment for us.”
“The president felt he had to strike first to avoid mass casualties,” Johnson said.
Some Democrats have called on Kent to appear before Congress and give the American people more information about why the administration is dragging the United States into the war in Iran.
“If even officials like Joe Kent don’t believe Iran poses an imminent threat, why are we sending more Americans to die in this war?” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) wrote about X.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Kent’s letter contained “many unsubstantiated claims,” including that Iran does not pose an imminent threat to the United States
“This is the same false claim that Democrats and some in the liberal media have repeated over and over again,” Leavitt wrote of X.
He said the evidence, which has never been publicly released by Trump or anyone in his administration, was “compiled from many sources and factors” and that Trump “would never make the decision to deploy military assets against a foreign enemy in a vacuum.”
Leavitt then repeated past justifications for the attack, including that Iran was sponsoring terrorism abroad and building its missile capabilities as a “shield” to protect itself while continuing to develop nuclear capabilities.
Leavitt has previously said Trump had a “feeling” that Iran would attack the United States or its assets. Trump had previously claimed, without any evidence, that Iran would have a nuclear weapon within weeks.
Leavitt said Kent’s additional claim that Trump “decided to attack Iran based on the influence of others, even foreign countries, is both insulting and ridiculous.”
Kent, a former political candidate with links to far-right extremists, was confirmed as the organization’s president in July. National Counterterrorism CenterAnalyzing and detecting terrorist threats.
Kent ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Congress in Washington state before joining the Trump administration. He also served in the military, serving 11 tours of duty as a Green Beret, and then worked for the CIA.
Democrats strongly opposed Kent’s confirmation in the Senate, in part because they were concerned about his ties to far-right figures and conspiracy theories. The city paid Graham Jorgensen, a member of the far-right military group Proud Boys, for consulting work during the 2022 congressional campaign. He also worked closely with Joey Gibson, founder of the Christian nationalist group Patriot Prayer, and had the support of various far-right figures.
During his Senate confirmation hearing, Kent also refused to distance himself from the conspiracy theory that federal agents incited the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. false claims Republican Trump won the 2020 election against Democrat Joe Biden.
Democrats grilled Kent over his participation in a Signal group chat in which Trump’s national security team discussed sensitive military plans.
Republicans, meanwhile, were impressed by Kent’s experience in the military and intelligence.
The GOP chairman of the intelligence committee, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said in his speech to the chamber that Kent “dedicated his career to fighting terrorism and keeping Americans safe.” On Tuesday, Cotton said he disagreed with Kent’s “misguided assessment.”
“Iran’s vast missile arsenal and support for terrorism posed a serious and growing threat to America. In fact, the ayatollahs maimed and killed thousands of Americans,” Cotton said. “President Trump recognized this threat and made the right call to eliminate it.”
Other conservatives, including former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and commentator Candace Owens, called Kent an “American hero.”
Ilan Goldenberg, a former Biden administration official dealing with the Middle East. wrote to x While Kent disagrees with the Iran war, he says claiming Israel pressured Trump to go to war is “ugly stuff using the worst antisemitic tropes.”
“Donald Trump is the President of the United States and is ultimately responsible for endangering American troops,” he said.
