National Counterterrorism Center director resigns over Iran war

The director of the National Counterterrorism Center, a retired Green Beret and longtime supporter of President Donald Trump, says he has resigned over the war in Iran.

The director of the National Counterterrorism Center, a retired Green Beret and longtime supporter of President Donald Trump, says he has resigned over the war in Iran.

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation," Joe Kent said in a statement posted on X on Tuesday. "It is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."

The National Counterterrorism Center oversees U.S. government intelligence on terrorist threats and retains a database of all known and suspected terrorists.

Kent worked under Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence and the two were political allies. Gabbard has kept a low profile since the war started and has previously criticized U.S. military interventions abroad.

Kent wrote in a letter to Trump posted on X that he supported the president's values during his first term. But he said Trump had been wrongly swayed by the Israelis and he could not 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."