The director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, which advises both US President Donald Trump and the director of national intelligence on “terror” threats, has resigned over the war with Iran.

In a resignation letter posted on X, Joe Kent said he could not “in good conscience” support the ongoing war.

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“Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” he said.

He pointed to Trump’s past pledges to end US engagement abroad, writing, “you understood that wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the previous lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation”.

The resignation is the most high-profile from the Trump administration since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28.

Kent’s reference to the term “imminent threat” is also significant.

Such imminence is considered a prerequisite for US presidents to launch military attacks without congressional approval under US law. It is also significant to launch legal attacks on sovereign nations under international law.

Trump endorsed and nominated

Trump había nominado a Kent para liderar el puesto después de haber respaldado anteriormente su campaña fallida para la Cámara de Representantes de los Estados Unidos.

Había sido anteriormente un Ranger del Ejército y miembro de las Fuerzas Especiales de los Estados Unidos, con 11 despliegues de combate en el Medio Oriente. Su esposa fue asesinada por un suicida de ISIL (ISIS) en Siria en 2019.

En su carta de renuncia, Kent hizo referencia a la muerte de su esposa, afirmando que había sido asesinada en una guerra “fabricada por Israel”.

“No puedo apoyar el envío de la próxima generación a luchar y morir en una guerra que no beneficia a la gente estadounidense ni justifica el costo de las vidas estadounidenses”, escribió.

Hasta la fecha, 13 soldados estadounidenses han muerto desde el inicio de la guerra. Al menos 1.444 personas han muerto en Irán, 20 en la región del Golfo y al menos 15 en Israel.

En una declaración tras su confirmación en el Senado en julio, la Directora de Inteligencia Nacional, Tulsi Gabbard, elogió a Kent como alguien que “ha puesto al país por encima de sí mismo, soportando grandes sacrificios personales en ese servicio”.

“Su experiencia sirviendo como la punta de lanza en algunos de los campos de batalla más peligrosos del mundo le ha dado una profunda y práctica comprensión de la amenaza duradera y en evolución del terrorismo islámico, así como de las amenazas que enfrentamos de las operaciones de trata y narcotráfico de las organizaciones criminales”, dijo.

Two Democrats had opposed Kent’s nomination, pointing to his past support of Trump’s unfounded claims that the US election in 2020 was “stolen” and his characterisation of people arrested during the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol as “political prisoners”.

Senator Patty Murray highlighted his past ties to far-right figures, including Nick Fuentes, saying he had a “track record of associating with white supremacists”.

In May of 2025, the New York Times reported that Kent had pushed intelligence analysts to alter an assessment of the Venezuelan government’s ties to Tren de Aragua, which contradicted Trump’s claims that the criminal organisation was acting in direct coordination with Nicolas Maduro and his top officials.

The incident preceded the January 3 US military abduction of Maduro.

‘America First’ undermined?

In his resignation letter, Kent also echoed criticism lodged by several influential figures in Trump’s so-called “Make America Great Again” movement.

Many have condemned Trump for entering into the war with Iran despite campaign pledges to end long-term US military engagement and put “America First”.

Trump and his top officials have repeatedly said that the war will end within weeks, although analysts have warned the grinding conflict could stretch on for much longer. Republicans lawmakers have largely coalesced around Trump’s pledge, scuttling efforts in Congress to rein in the war.

The administration has offered shifting justifications for the attacks, including claims about Iran’s missile and nuclear developments for which they have not provided evidence. They have further claimed that the totality of Iran’s actions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution represented a present threat to the US.

Kent praised Trump’s past military actions, including the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in 2020, as examples of the president knowing “how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into “never-ending wars”.

However, he said that in Trump’s second term “high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran”.

“This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory,” he said.

He further urged Trump to change course, writing: “You hold the cards”.

The White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to the resignation.