In a shocking twist on the home front of the Iran war, one of Trump’s top counterterrorism officials has called it quits, writing in a letter to the commander in chief that he could not quote — “in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran” and blamed Israel and its quote — “powerful American lobby” for pressuring the US to attack. The quitter, Joe Kent, who served as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center and was a key deputy to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, posted his resignation letter on X. “I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term,” he wrote. “Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.” Read more at https://nypost.com/2026/03/17/us-news…
After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today. I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. 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. It has been an honor serving under
@POTUS and @DNIGabbardand leading the professionals at NCTC. May God bless America.
Karoline Levitt – – – –
There are many false claims in this letter but let me address one specifically: that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.” This is the same false claim that Democrats and some in the liberal media have been repeating over and over. As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first. This evidence was compiled from many sources and factors. President Trump would never make the decision to deploy military assets against a foreign adversary in a vacuum. Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. The Iranian regime is evil. It proudly killed Americans, waged war against our country, and openly threatened us all the way up to the launch of Operation Epic Fury. Iran was aggressively expanding their short-range ballistic missiles to combine with their naval assets to give themselves immunity – meaning they would have a degree of a capabilities that would give them immunity to hold us and the rest of the world hostage. The regime aimed to use those ballistic missiles as a shield to continue achieving their ultimate goal – nuclear weapons.
The President, through his top negotiators, gave the regime every single possible opportunity to abandon this unacceptable course by permanently giving up their nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief, free nuclear fuel, and potential economic partnerships with our country. But they would not say yes to peace because obtaining nuclear weapons was their fundamental goal. President Trump ultimately made the determination that a joint attack with Israel would greatly reduce the risk to American lives that would come from a first strike by the terrorist Iranian regime and address this imminent threat to America’s national security interests. All of this led to President Trump arriving at the determination that this military operation was necessary for U.S. national security, which is why he launched the massively successful Operation Epic Fury.
The Commander-in-Chief determines what does and does not constitute a threat, because he is the one constitutionally empowered to do so – and because the American people went to the ballot box and entrusted him and him alone to make such final judgments. And finally, the absurd allegation that President Trump made this decision based on the influence of others, even foreign countries, is both insulting and laughable. President Trump has been remarkably consistent and has said for DECADES that Iran can NEVER possess a nuclear weapon. As someone who actually witnesses President Trump’s decision-making process on a daily basis, I can attest to the fact that he is always looking to do what’s in the best interest of the United States of America — period. America First.
Post At X: JoeKent in 2022: Praises the IDF, backs maximum pressure on Iran, embraces the Abraham Accords, and casts Israel as a strategic American ally. JoeKent in 2026: “Israel pushed America into multiple wars since 2000 and is indirectly responsible for ISIS murdering my wife”
