TEHRAN – Joe Kent, director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, has stepped down in protest of President Donald Trump’s decision to wage war against Iran, a war deemed illegal under both the UN Charter and the U.S. Constitution.

Kent announced his resignation in a post on X, saying he could not “in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” arguing that Tehran posed “no imminent threat” to the United States.

In his resignation letter to Trump, Kent said the conflict had been driven by pressure from Israel and its allies in the United States. He accused senior Israeli officials and influential American media figures of promoting a “misinformation campaign” aimed at undermining Trump’s policies and encouraging military action against Iran.

According to Kent, this campaign created an “echo chamber” that misled the president into believing Iran posed an immediate threat and that a military strike would lead to a quick and decisive victory.

Calling that assessment false, Kent compared the situation to similar tactics used to push the United States into the Iraq War, which he noted cost thousands of American lives. A former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier and CIA operator, Kent warned against repeating the mistakes of that conflict.

He also referenced his own military background and personal loss — his wife, a Navy cryptanalyst who Washington says was killed in an ISIS bombing in Syria — saying he could not support sending another generation of Americans to fight and die in a war that “does not serve U.S. interests.”

Addressing Trump directly, Kent urged the president to reconsider the conflict and reflect on the motivations behind it. “You hold the cards,” he wrote, calling on Trump to change course.

Kent’s departure comes less than a year after the Senate confirmed him to lead the National Counterterrorism Center. Before joining the administration, he served as a foreign policy adviser to Trump’s 2020 campaign. His resignation, and the explanations in his letter that Israeli officials misled the U.S. into attacking Iran, are likely to intensify scrutiny over the Trump administration’s shifting explanations for the war.

Kent also joins a significant number of lawmakers who have been protesting the war shortly after it began on February 28. Aside from assertions that Washington likely waged the war on behalf of Israel, their objections center on the lack of congressional authorization as well as the potential for another “endless war.”

Initially, U.S. officials justified the strikes as necessary to prevent Iran from rebuilding a nuclear weapons program that Trump had previously said was “obliterated” by American bunkerbuster strikes last June.

On March 5, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the attacks were intended to preempt potential Iranian retaliation against U.S. forces following an anticipated Israeli aggression. Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser, said the administration expected Israel’s actions would trigger an Iranian response against American bases and argued that Washington acted first to reduce the scale of a possible attack.

Senator Chris Murphy has been the most direct among his colleagues in Congress in questioning Israel’s role in the U.S. decision to go to war. He argued that the relationship has become onesided, with Israel dictating American military policy.

“Why do we sell them the most sophisticated weapons in the world if they can dictate terms to us on when we put U.S. lives at risk in the Middle East? That doesn’t make sense to me… We should have leverage over Israel. Israel should not be telling us when to wage war against Iran. What kind of partnership is this?” the senator said in remarks to Western media.

One of the few Republicans to join the protest, Representative Thomas Massie has argued that the war contradicts the “America First” doctrine. “I am opposed to this war. This is not ‘America First.’ When Congress reconvenes, I will work with @RepRoKhanna to force a Congressional vote on war with Iran,” he wrote on X. That vote failed once and is set to be discussed again in the House in the coming days.

Another prominent Republican voice against the war has been Senator Rand Paul. “As yet another preemptive war is begun in the Middle East, John Quincy Adams’ words of wisdom still ring true… My oath to the Constitution compels me to oppose another presidential war,” he said on X.

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has so far killed over 1,600 civilians, including 165 schoolgirls massacred in a strike on an elementary school in southern Iran and a three-day-old boy killed alongside his family members during the bombing of their home in a remote village. Over 36,000 residential units, 6,000 private businesses, 56 historical sites, 160 medical centres, and 70 schools have so far been destroyed or damaged by U.S.-Israeli bombs.