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Conservatives are sounding the alarm after Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, tendered his resignation over the war in Iran, saying that the Trump administration was drawn into war by the Israeli lobby.

Kent, a longtime supporter of President Donald Trump, became the highest-ranking Whiter House official to announce his departure over opposition to the conflict, writing in a statement on X on Tuesday that he “cannot in good conscience” support it.

“Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation,” said Kent, a former political candidate who served in the Army Special Forces. “It is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

Kent wrote that he supported the president’s principles during his first term, and that up until June of last year, Donald Trump “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,” Kent continued. “You demonstrated this by killing Qasem Soleimani and by defeating ISIS.”

Kent, a US Army veteran who was deployed on 11 combat missions and retired with six Bronze Stars, argued that Trump was tricked into war by a “misinformation campaign” by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and some prominent members of the media. He called it an “echo chamber” that was used to “deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States.”

“You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip toward decline and chaos,” Kent added of Trump. “You hold the cards.”

Kent is a major player in DC. He served as a counterterrorism advisor on Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, while Trump himself nominated him to lead the National Counterterrorism Center in early 2025.

“Joe Kent is not a nobody,” Curt Mills, editor of The American Conservative, was quoted by news website The Hill. “Usually when people resign in protest, you hear their name for the first time. Plenty of people have heard Joe Kent’s name before.”

Trump’s response to the news was characteristically tough. He called Kent “very weak on security” and said it was “a good thing that he’s out”.

Kent’s resignation has divided Republicans. Some supported it as a principled stand, while others condemned him as misinformed and disloyal to the president.

Former Georgia Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, another high-ranking MAGA figure who called it quits following American militarism, said: “Make America Great Again was supposed to be America first, not Israel first.”

“We said “No Foreign Wars, No Regime Change!” We said it on rally stage after rally stage, speech after speech. Trump, Vance, basically the entire admin campaigned on it and promised to put America FIRST and Make America Great Again.

My generation has been let down…” Greene said on Megyn Kelly’s podcast.

Conservative media commentator Tucker Carlson also praised Kent’s decision.

“Joe is the bravest man I know, and he can’t be dismissed as a nut,” Carlson said in a New York Times interview. “He’s leaving a job that gave him access to the highest-level relevant intelligence. The neo-cons will try to destroy him for that.”

“He understands that and did it anyway,” he added.

CNN’s polling early in the war showed 23% of Republicans largely approved of the decision to take military action. A Reuters-Ipsos poll showed Trump’s military action against Iran enjoying GOP support of 55%-13%. The same was 81%-12% in a Washington Post poll.

However, the opposition to the war among prominent MAGA supporters is conspicuous. Even Vice-President JD Vance has thus far declined to fully endorse the war.

Up until February 28 when Trump opted to get sucked into hostilities in Iran due to Israeli coaxing, the US leader skirted the fine line between military action and full-blown war. On January 3, 2026, the White House launched a military strike in Venezuela and captured incumbent Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Officials in the United Nations, the US, and other countries, as well as international law experts said the raid violated the UN Charter and Venezuela’s sovereignty. Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodríguez denounced the capture as a “kidnapping”.

Meanwhile, European leaders remain nervous that Trump will live up to his threats and seize Greenland from Denmark. Cuba also remains in the sites of the “peace president.”

Back in Washington, some observers are accusing Kent of anti-Semitism, accusing him of repeating the ‘old trope’ that Israel is behind all of America’s wars in the Middle East. Below is a copy of Kent’s resignation letter, where he calls out the “powerful American lobby” [read: Israeli Lobby] for readers to better assess if Kent’s reasoning is sound:

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.

Joseph Kent

Director, National Counterterrorism Center