WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, abruptly resigned Tuesday, becoming the most senior national security official to break publicly with the Trump administration over its military campaign against Iran.<\/p>\n
In a statement posted on social media<\/a>, Kent said he \u201ccannot in good conscience\u201d continue serving in the administration, contending that Iran had \u201cposed no imminent threat to our nation\u201d and that the United States had been drawn into the conflict through \u201cpressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives,\u201d Kent wrote in a letter addressed to President Trump. \u201cI pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump, speaking in the Oval Office, dismissed Kent\u2019s concerns, telling reporters that he had long believed the counterterrorism director \u2014 whom he nominated to the post in February 2025 \u2014 was \u201cvery weak on security.\u201d The president insisted that Iran has been a threat to the U.S. \u201cfor a long time,\u201d and said that it was a \u201cgood thing\u201d Kent is leaving. <\/p>\n The resignation came at an uncertain moment for the administration. The war, which has repeatedly been sold to Americans as \u201cshort term\u201d and contained, is now in its third week, with fraying alliances, renewed missile and drone fire on gulf Arab nations from Iran, new Israeli strikes on Iran and Lebanon, mounting casualties and no clear exit strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we left right now it would take 10 years for them to rebuild,\u201d Trump told reporters. \u201cWe\u2019re not ready to leave yet, but we\u2019ll be leaving in the near future. We\u2019ll be leaving pretty much in the very near future.\u201d<\/p>\n The uncertainty was compounded Tuesday by Israel\u2019s killing of Ali Larijani<\/a>, the head of Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council, as well as Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the Basij, Iran\u2019s militia force. <\/p>\n Trump made reference to the Iranian officials killed without naming them, saying one was \u201ctheir actual top\u201d and the other was responsible for the killing of 32,000 Iranian protesters in recent weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an evil group,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Effect of Larijani\u2019s killing<\/p>\n Iranian officials confirmed the deaths of Larijani and Soleimani via state media Tuesday. In addition to killing the Basij leader, Israel reported striking more than 10 Basij posts, part of an effort to destroy the Islamic Republic\u2019s ability to contain internal unrest and protests.<\/p>\n Benjamin Radd, a political scientist and senior fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations, said Larijani\u2019s killing would greatly diminish the Iranian diplomatic and institutional experience, as he was perceived to be \u201cthe last of the competent bunch\u201d in power.<\/p>\n Those remaining in power are \u201cgenerally not the sharpest people, they\u2019re not the people who understand the subtleties of diplomacy, of what negotiating with the U.S. is like,\u201d which clears a path for \u201ca country run by a military junta\u201d comprising Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leaders, Radd said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really going to be moving more toward a military-style dictatorship \u2014 behind a clerical robe, if you will,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The battlefield developments have done little to reassure Washington\u2019s closest allies, most of which have declined to join the fight despite Trump\u2019s recent pleas to allied nations to send warships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial oil route that has been threatened by Iran\u2019s war efforts.<\/p>\n In a social media post Tuesday, Trump said the United States had been informed by most of its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that they \u201cdon\u2019t want to get involved<\/a>\u201d in the expanding Middle East war \u2014 and he claimed the American military no longer needs or wants their help.<\/p>\n \u201cIn fact, speaking as President of the United States of America, by far the Most Powerful Country Anywhere in the World, WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!\u201d Trump wrote. <\/p>\n Trump cannot unilaterally remove the U.S. from NATO. In 2023, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) \u2014 who is now Trump\u2019s secretary of State \u2014 successfully pushed a measure barring any president from removing the U.S. from the treaty organization without approval from the Senate or an act of Congress.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Senate should maintain oversight on whether or not our nation withdraws from NATO. We must ensure we are protecting our national interests and protecting the security of our democratic allies,\u201d Rubio said at the time.<\/p>\n Some experts viewed Trump\u2019s latest remarks about not needing NATO allies as a result of him having misplayed his hand at the start of the conflict with Iran, which has attempted to widen the war by targeting Gulf Cooperation Council nations in the region.<\/p>\n When Trump started demanding that many other nations join the U.S. in the war effort, or at least in safeguarding the Strait of Hormuz, it was \u201can attempt on Trump\u2019s side to widen the war the other way,\u201d Radd said, based in part on the fact that other nations, including China and in Europe, are much more reliant on oil from the region than the U.S.<\/p>\n However, it was a \u201cclumsy\u201d move by Trump given his alienation of NATO allies in the past, including during a major speech in Davos, Switzerland, in January, in which the president was \u201cbasically shaming and criticizing NATO and European states,\u201d Radd said.<\/p>\n Calling on allies to \u201cstep up\u201d after ridiculing them was \u201cham-handed,\u201d Radd said.<\/p>\n Intelligence official\u2019s departure<\/p>\n In Washington, Kent\u2019s resignation exposed new divisions over the administration\u2019s handling of the war.<\/p>\n On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters that he did not know where Kent was \u201cgetting his information\u201d to conclude that Iran posed no imminent threat to the U.S. He said Trump administration officials in classified briefings have asserted that \u201cthey had exquisite intelligence and they understood that this was a serious moment for us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe president felt that he had to strike first to prevent mass casualties,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n Several Democrats called on Kent to appear before Congress and tell the American people more about why the administration dragged the U.S. into war in Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cIf even officials like Joe Kent do not believe Iran posed an imminent threat, why are we sending more Americans to die in this war?\u201d Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) wrote on X.<\/a> <\/p>\n White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Kent\u2019s letter contained \u201cmany false claims,\u201d including that Iran posed no imminent threat to the U.S.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the same false claim that Democrats and some in the liberal media have been repeating over and over,\u201d Leavitt wrote on X. \u201cAs President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first.\u201d<\/p>\n She said that evidence, which has never been detailed publicly, \u201cwas compiled from many sources and factors,\u201d and that Trump \u201cwould never make the decision to deploy military assets against a foreign adversary in a vacuum.\u201d<\/p>\n Leavitt then repeated past justifications for the attack, including that Iran sponsors terrorism abroad and that it was building out its missile capabilities as \u201ca shield\u201d for protection as it continued to develop nuclear capabilities.<\/p>\n The press secretary previously said that Trump had a \u201cfeeling\u201d that Iran was going to attack the U.S. or its assets. The president has alleged, without evidence, that Iran was within weeks of having a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n Leavitt said the added assertion by Kent that Trump decided to attack Iran \u201cbased on the influence of others, even foreign countries, is both insulting and laughable.\u201d<\/p>\n Kent, a former political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists, was confirmed in July as head of the National Counterterrorism Center,<\/a> which analyzes and detects terrorist threats. Before joining the Trump administration, Kent ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Congress<\/a> in Washington state. He also served in the military, serving 11 deployments as a Green Beret, followed by work at the CIA.<\/p>\n Democrats strongly opposed Kent\u2019s confirmation in the Senate, in part because they were concerned about his ties to far-right figures and promotion of conspiracy theories. During his 2022 congressional campaign, Kent paid Graham Jorgensen, a member of the far-right military group the Proud Boys, for consulting work. He also worked closely with Joey Gibson, the founder of the Christian nationalist group Patriot Prayer, and attracted support from a variety of far-right figures.<\/p>\n During his Senate confirmation hearing, Kent refused to distance himself from a conspiracy theory that federal agents instigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol, as well as false claims<\/a> that Trump, a Republican, won the 2020 election over Democrat Joe Biden.<\/p>\n