By: Snigdha Chakravarti
On March 17th, 2026, far-right politician and Trump supporter Joe Kent resigned from his position as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, becoming the first US official to resign over the war in Iran. Kent was also a former CIA paramilitary officer, highly experienced in combat. In his resignation letter posted on X, Kent remarked how he was unable to support the current 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 explained. He further went on to urge President Trump to end the war, questioning the administration’s basis for being involved in it.
During President Trump’s first administration, Kent commended the President’s military moves, including the killing of Qassem Suleimani and not being drawn to “never-ending wars.” However, Kent believed that the President did not take a similar approach to the war in Iran, claiming that he had been deceived by a “misinformation campaign.” In his resignation letter, Kent wrote how Israeli officials and the media had formed an “echo chamber” that caused the President to cite an “imminent threat” to the US. “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 warned. On the other hand, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard responded to the resignation letter, saying that ultimately, President Trump is responsible for “whether or not to take action he deems necessary to protect the safety and security of our troops, the American people and our country.”
Several politicians from both the Democratic and Republican Party have applauded Kent’s resignation, in part due to his connections with far-right figures such as Nazi sympathizers and White nationalists. Republican Don Bacon, for example, wrote on social media, “Good riddance. Anti-Semitism is an evil I detest, and we surely don’t want it in our government.” Democrats shared some of the same beliefs as well. They also highlighted his involvement in a Signal group chat about attacks on Houthi military; it evolved into a scandal later when Jefferey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, reported that Kent had been accidentally added to the group . Additionally, Kent has also bolstered anti-government conspiracy theories, including how the 2020 election had been stolen from President Trump.
President Trump also responded to Kent’s resignation in a statement during the White House St. Patrick’s Day reception. He claimed that Kent was “always a nice guy”, but “always weak on security, very weak on security,” deeming it “a good thing that he’s out because he said Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat.” The President went to say that people like Kent who didn’t perceive Iran as a threat to the US are “not smart” and “not savvy.”
Joe Kent is a committed supporter of the MAGA(Make America Great Again) movement, yet became one of the highest-profile reprimanders of the US’s involvement in Iran. His resignation has and will continue to raise questions on why the Trump administration waged war on Iran.