Joe Kent, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center who resigned from his post on Tuesday (local time), said that Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States.
In a post on X, Kent shared the letter he wrote to Trump and said: “It is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” He went on to say that a misinformation campaign was deployed by high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media, accusing them of sowing pro-war sentiments that encouraged a war with Iran.
Trump deceived by officials?
In his letter to Trump, Kent continued to say that the misinformation campaign undermined his (Trump’s) America First platform, adding that the US President was deceived into believing that Tehran posed a threat to the US and that he should strike now, and “there was a clear path to a swift victory.”
Kent added that the apparent threats from Iran were a lie and are the same tactics that Israel used to draw Washington into a war with Iraq, which resulted in the loss of American lives.
We can’t do this again: Kent
Kent, who is a veteran and has been deployed to combat 11 times, reminded Trump that the mistake they made in Iraq, which cost them the lives of thousands of Americans, should not be repeated. He added, “I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight” and die in a war that does not benefit the American people, nor justifies the cost of American lives.
Asking Trump to reflect on what the country is doing in Tehran and who it is doing it for, Kent asked him to take “bold” actions now. He added that the US President should rather reverse the course and forge a new path for America, or he can allow the country “to slip further” towards decline and chaos.
Trump’s response to Kent’s resignation
Responding to Kent’s resignation, Trump said it’s a good thing, after the former objected to the war in Iran, and called him “very weak on security.”
Speaking from the Oval Office, he said, “When somebody is working with us who says they didn’t think Iran was a threat, we don’t want those people. They’re not smart people, or they’re not savvy people.”
Kent, a staunch Trump supporter and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, resigned earlier today, making it the first high-profile exit after the war in Iran began. According to a cnn report, several lawmakers and experts have flagged doubts over the intelligence that Trump used to justify the strikes launched in Tehran in late February.
US-Iran war divides MAGA supporters
The US and Israel’s war in Iran and Washington’s close alliance with Tel Aviv have divided the MAGA movement and Trump supporters, with several prominent figures such as Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson being critical of it. However, according to an NBC News poll, nearly 77% of Republicans supported the strikes on Iran.
