The head of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, Joe Kent, has resigned over President Donald Trump’s Iran war, saying Iran posed “no imminent threat to our nation.”
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent said in a statement to Trump, posted on X.
He said Trump had been “deceived” into believing Iran posed 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.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rebuked Kent and his letter for its “many false claims”.
“As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first,” Leavitt wrote in a lengthy social media post. “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.”
