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'Iran war started under pressure from Israel': US counter-terror body chief Joe Kent in resignation to Trump | Full text
“I pray you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for... You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation,” Kent writes
Joseph ‘Joe’ Kent, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, resigned on Tuesday, marking the first high-profile exit in discontent against President Donald Trump's decision to go to war with Iran.
Here's the full text of his letter
"After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today.
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.
I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term. 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.
In your first administration, you understood better than any modern President how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars. You demonstrated this by killing Qasam Solamani and by defeating ISIS.
Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory. 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.
As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot 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.
I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for. 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.
It was an honor to serve in your administration and to serve our great nation."
Who is Joe Kent? War veteran whose wife served, died
Joe Kent served in the US Army for 20 years, “where he completed 11 combat deployments in the Middle East and other high-threat regions”, his profile on the NCTC website says.
After retiring from the Army in 2018, he served as a paramilitary officer in the CIA’s Special Activities Center, and eventually entered public life.
The profile notes that, in 2019, his wife, Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent, was killed in a suicide bombing while serving in Syria. “It is her legacy and sprit, along with countless other men and women who we have lost in the war on terror that drives the mission at NCTC,” the profile says.
The NCTC website says he is an Oregon native and a graduate of Norwich University in Strategic Defense Analysis.
At present, he lives with his current wife Heather, who is a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, and their two sons.
