Joseph Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation Tuesday, effective immediately, over what he saw as an unnecessary war in Iran. The former Green Beret was appointed by President Donald Trump in February 2025 and confirmed by the Senate in July 2025.

In a resignation letter that could have been written by Tucker Carlson, Kent said that the war was “manufactured” by Israel, which he said pressured the United States to go to war, along with its powerful American lobby.

Many Jewish advocates view complaints about Israel’s American lobby as antisemitic.

“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,” Kent wrote in his resignation letter.

He explained that he had supported President Donald Trump because he had promised not to involve the U.S. in never-ending wars. But he said the president had been deceived early on by Israelis and powerful media personalities and repeated the lie that Israel had drawn the U.S. into the Iraq war.

“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,” Kent wrote. “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.”

In fact, there simply is no evidence supporting the assertion that Israel pressured the U.S. to go to war with Iraq, although many in senior leadership supported the removal of Saddam Hussein and saw it as beneficial to Israel.

Kent also blamed Israel for the death of his wife.

“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,” he wrote.