THE NEW YORK TIMES: Mr. Kent is the highest-ranking Trump administration official to quit in opposition to the conflict. He is also known for his support of conspiracy theories.
One of the United States’ top counterterrorism officials resigned on Tuesday, citing his opposition to the war in Iran and what he said was Israel’s influence over the Trump administration’s policies, a sign of emerging divisions in the Republican coalition.
The official, Joe Kent, is the first senior member of the administration to quit over the war.
The seemingly open-ended nature of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran has created strong divisions among Mr. Trump’s supporters. An anti-interventionist wing of the coalition, which supported President Trump because of his criticism of long overseas conflicts, has quickly become uneasy with the war, which has lasted 18 days with no immediate sign of ending.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Mr. Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, wrote in a letter to Mr. Trump. “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.”
Mr. Kent’s resignation came as a surprise. The top ranks of Mr. Trump’s administration have been remarkably stable, and no senior leader has quit while laying out a sharp policy difference with the president.
Unsurprisingly, Mr. Kent’s stance earned a sharp rebuke from Mr. Trump. » | Julian E. Barnes, Robert Draper and Luke Broadwater | Reporting from Washington | Tuesday, March 17, 2026
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