CNBC | Tuesday, March 17, 2026 
U.S. counterterrorism director Joe Kent resigns over war: ‘Iran posed no imminent threat’

National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent on Tuesday announced he will resign in response to the Trump administration’s war against Iran. “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war,” Kent said in a letter addressed to President Donald Trump, that was posted on Kent’s personal X account. Kent, a promoter of far-right conspiracy theories whom the Senate narrowly confirmed for the director role last July, accused the president of being deceived by Israel into supporting the war. “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,” Kent wrote in his letter. Trump disputed Kent’s claims later Tuesday. “I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a bilateral meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin. After reading Kent’s statement, “I realized that it’s a good thing that he’s out,” Trump said, because “every country realized what a threat Iran was.” The comments came shortly after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an X post that Kent was parroting “the same false claim that Democrats and some in the liberal media have been repeating over and over.” Trump “had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first,” and he “would…Read more