Trump’s top counterterrorism aide resigns, citing Iran war

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/17/joe-kent-resigns-iran-war-00831187

Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced Tuesday he was resigning over the war in Iran — a stunning defection that shows how President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Tehran has divided some of the most loyal corners of his administration.

In his letter, Kent said Iran “posed no imminent threat” to the United States. He claimed American media, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential Israeli lobbyists “deployed a misinformation campaign” 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 you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory,” Kent wrote. “This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women.”

There is no credible evidence to support claims that Israel convinced U.S. intelligence officials that Iraq was pursuing a weapons of mass destruction program before the American invasion in 2003.