Trump’s counter terror chief Joe Kent resigns in protest at Iran war
The former CIA paramilitary officer says the Iranian regime was not an ‘imminent threat to our nation’ and that America risks entering ‘never-ending wars’
Josie Ensor, Chief US Reporter
Wednesday March 18 2026, 12.00am GMT, The Times
AP/JENNY KANE
President Trump’s national counter terrorism director has announced that he is stepping down in objection to the US’s war in Iran, saying Tehran did not pose an “imminent threat to our nation”.
Joe Kent’s resignation is the first suffered by the administration since it launched Operation Epic Fury in the Middle East alongside Israel.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent, a former army Green Beret and CIA paramilitary officer, wrote in a statement posted on X on Tuesday. “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 accused Israel of dragging the US into a conflict with Iran using a “misinformation campaign” that served its own interests and was threatening to drag Washington into a quagmire.
As head of the National Counte rterrorism Center, Kent was in charge of an agency tasked with analysing and detecting terrorist threats. It is believed Kent was the highest-ranking US official to resign in protest over a war since the Vietnam War.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said Kent’s resignation was “a good thing” and that Kent was “very weak on security”.
“It’s a good thing he is out because he said Iran was not a threat,” he said.
A senior administration official briefed Fox News that Kent was “a known leaker” who had been cut out of the president’s intelligence briefings months ago. “He has not been part of any Iran planning discussions or briefings at all,” they said. The unnamed official said the White House told Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, that Kent should be fired for the suspected leaks, which she declined to do.
Kent’s decision comes weeks after a series of US strikes on Iran ignited a conflict that has engulfed the entire region and led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a major trade route for oil and other goods.
With oil prices rising, President Trump said he had demanded that roughly half a dozen countries send warships to ensure vessels could safely navigate the strait. However his appeals brought no immediate commitments, with many countries saying they were hesitant to become involved in a war with no defined exit plan.
At least 13 US service members have been killed in the conflict, which has forced the closure of several key US embassies. Kent said he had supported Trump’s America First vision, but believes the president has lost sight of it in his second term.
“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.
“In your first administration, you understood better than any modern president how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars. You demonstrated this by killing Qasem Soleimani [the slain Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp official] and by defeating Isis.”
Kent enlisted in the army shortly before the September 11 attacks. He served 11 combat deployments as a Green Beret, then retired and joined the CIA.
Joe and Shannon Kent with their two children, with Shannon carrying a baby in a front carrier and Joe carrying an older child in a backpack.
His wife, Shannon, a Navy cryptologist, was killed in 2019 along with three other Americans when a suicide bomber detonated his vest outside a restaurant in Manbij, northern Syria.
“As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I 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,” Kent continued.
“I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for. The time for bold action is now. You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards.”
Kent had been a controversial figure who boasted a number of links to far-right figures including the Nazi sympathiser Greyson Arnold and the Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, and he was known to espouse conspiracy theories.
He spoke in favour of insurrectionists charged with storming the US Capitol, describing some January 6 defendants as “political prisoners”.
Kent’s resignation came as Gabbard, his former boss, was due to address the Senate this week on the topic of “global worldwide threats”.
Gabbard had been very publicly against US military inventions abroad before she joined Trump’s administration.
In recent weeks, she had been keeping a low profile. However, on Tuesday, Gabbard defended the administration’s position, posting on X: “Donald Trump was overwhelmingly elected by the American people to be our President and Commander in Chief.
“As our Commander in Chief, he is responsible for determining what is and is not an imminent threat, and whether or not to take action he deems necessary to protect the safety and security of our troops, the American people and our country.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, released a lengthy statement responding to Kent’s claim that Iran did not pose an imminent threat.
“This is the same false claim that Democrats and some in the liberal media have been repeating over and over,” she said. “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.”
