Trump’s prime counterintelligence official resigns in protest over Iran battle

Donald Trump‘s top counterterrorism official has resigned in protest over the Iran war, accusing Israel and its ‘powerful American lobby’ of pressuring the US into a conflict he says was built on lies.

Joseph Kent, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said Iran posed no imminent threat and the war was started ‘due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,’ adding: ‘I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war.’ 

Kent, who served under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, accused the President of reneging on the non-interventionist principles he campaigned on.

‘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,’ the former Army Special Forces soldier wrote in his resignation letter.

‘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, who deployed to combat 11 times and lost his wife Shannon in what he calls a war manufactured by Israel, is closely aligned with the populist ‘America First’ wing of the Trump administration, including Gabbard and Vice President JD Vance, who have both warned against new Middle East entanglements. 

His resignation lays bare a widening split inside Trumpworld. Kent accused high-ranking Israeli officials and members of the American media of running a ‘misinformation campaign’ to deceive the President into believing Iran posed an imminent threat, drawing a direct parallel to the lead-up to the Iraq war. 

The divide pits the Gabbard-Vance non-interventionist faction against hawkish Republicans who back US support for Israel and a harder line on Tehran. 

The Daily Mail has contacted the White House and the Officer of the Director of National Intelligence for comment. 

Speaker Mike Johnson was asked about Kent’s accusations that the US launched the war against Iran because of Israel. 

Johnson again repeated the Trump administration’s claim that there was an immediate threat from Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. Trump claimed last summer the US had obliterated Iran’s nuclear program.

‘I don’t know where Joe Kent is getting his information because he wasn’t in those briefings,’ Johnson told reporters. ‘Had the president waited, we would have had mass casualties of Americans.’ 

Trump’s ongoing war has spiraled across the Middle East, leading to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and deaths of 13 troops with hundreds more injured across seven countries. 

Gas prices have surged to an average of $3.80 a gallon from $2.90 before the conflict began three weeks ago, while the narrow strait – through which a fifth of the world’s oil flows – remains blocked by the threat of Iranian mines and missiles. 

Kent is seen as a key ally of Vance, as both built their political careers opposing foreign wars and championing Trump’s ‘America First’ principles. 

His foreign policy views were also backed by Gabbard, who is believed to be on the outs in Trump’s inner circle following his decision to launch the war.

Kent’s decision to blame Israel for lobbying Trump to launch the war against Iran underscores a growing divide within the GOP over support for the US Middle Eastern ally.

The resignation drew immediate praise from prominent ‘America First’ voices. Marjorie Taylor Greene called Kent ‘a great America hero,’ while Candace Owens went further, declaring Trump ‘a shameful President’ and calling on US troops to explore conscientious objection, calling Kent a ‘patriot’.

Not everyone was sympathetic. Pro-Israel activist Laura Loomer called Kent a ‘notorious leaker’ and predicted Gabbard would be next to go, claiming the resignation was timed to overshadow Gabbard’s scheduled testimony before two Congressional intelligence committees.

 Loomer, who has previously clashed with Kent after he suggested she was a Mossad spy, described him as a ‘Tucker Carlson acolyte who undermines President Trump every chance he gets.’

Kent, 45, has a decorated military career spanning two decades in US Special Forces. He later joined the Central Intelligence Agency as a paramilitary officer following eleven combat tours in Iraq.

His wife, Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent, was killed in a suicide bombing while serving in Syria. The couple had two young children.

Following his wife’s death, Kent launched his political career advocating against military intervention in the Middle East.

Kent ran for Congress in February 2021 in Washington against Republican Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler, one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the January 6 Capitol riot.

After a tough primary, Kent won the Republican nomination with endorsement of Trump, but lost the general election against Democrat Marie Perez. He ran again in the same district in 2024 but lost again. 

Kent’s 2021 campaign received financial support from Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel.

Thiel, at the time, also provided monetary support to other Republican figures during the 2021 GOP primaries, including Vance in Ohio.