By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider
A top Counter Terrorism Official from the United States, Joe Kent, serving under the Trump administration, has handed in his resignation due to the war his country is fighting against Iran. He posted his letter of resignation on X (Twitter) on Tuesday in order to address his correspondence with Trump.
“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,” Kent wrote on X.
Kent served as the director of the National CounterTerrorism Center, they are responsible for analysing terrorist threats. Kent used to serve in the US Army Special Forces as a soldier who had completed 11 combat deployments and also served in the US war against Iraq.
He campaigned in 2019 to represent southwestern Washington state within the US congress as a republican.
“His experience serving as the tip of the spear in some of the world’s most dangerous battlefields has given him a deep, practical understanding of the enduring and evolving threat of Islamist terrorism” said the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gubbard, who was Kent’s superior during his tenure in Trump’s administration.
Despite what she said about Kent, she has opted to distance herself from his decision to resign and has affirmed her support for her president as she also took to writing on X.
“Donald Trump was overwhelmingly elected by the American people to be our President and Commander in Chief” she wrote. “As our Commander in Chief, he is responsible for determining what is and is not an imminent threat” she continued to write.
“Until June 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” Kent wrote.
Kent highlights in his letter of resignation that he supported the foreign policy agenda that was championed by Trump during his last three presidential campaigns.
Kent believes that Trump has been misled about Iran posing a threat to the United States and blames high-ranking Israeli officials and lobbyists for prompting Trump to abandon the America First Agenda.
“This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that if you struck now, there was a clear path to a swift victory” said Kent.
Kent highlighted that this tactic used by the Israelis is exactly what led to his fellow statesmen and women to have lost their lives in the war against Iraq.
“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. We cannot make this mistake again” Kent wrote. Kent even made mention of his late wife, Shannon Kent, when she fought in US operations in Syria due to a suicide bombing.