Who Is Joe Kent? US Counterterrorism Chief Who Give up Over Iran Struggle

After a lot reflection, I’ve determined to resign from my place as Director of the Nationwide Counterterrorism Middle, efficient right now.

I can not in good conscience assist the continuing struggle in Iran. Iran posed no imminent menace to our nation, and it’s clear that we began this… pic.twitter.com/prtu86DpEr

— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) March 17, 2026

Kent says Israeli foyer pushed US into Iran struggle

Kent expressed his disappointment in his letter and stepped down from his place on the struggle. He wrote that high-ranking Israeli officers and influential members of the American media sowed a misinformation marketing campaign and pro-war sentiments towards Iran. The foyer, he argued, made President Trump consider that if he strikes now, he may win the struggle, which was a lie. He additional known as it an Israeli tactic used to attract the USA into the Iraq struggle.

Who’s Joseph Kent?

Joseph Kent, aged 45, served because the director of the Nationwide Counterterrorism Middle in the USA for lower than a yr. He was appointed to function the chief of the counterterrorism workplace in February 2025.

Kent is a former soldier with US Military Particular Forces who accomplished 11 fight deployments from 1998-2018, together with the US-Iraq Struggle. After retiring from the navy, he joined the CIA’s Particular Actions Middle as a paramilitary officer.

In his resignation letter, Kent has described the Iraq struggle as one ‘manufactured by Israel’.

Campaigned as a Republican twice within the US Congress

Kent then moved onto launching his political profession. He campaigned as a Republican to symbolize Southwestern Washington state within the US Congress in 2022 and 2024. A former political candidate, he was criticised for hiring a member of a far-right US navy organisation Proud Boys as a marketing consultant for his election bid in 2022.

Misplaced his first spouse in suicide bombing in Syria

Joseph Kent’s first spouse Shannon Kent, a US Navy cryptologic technician, was killed in a 2019 suicide bombing in Manbij, Syria whereas deployed alongside the US particular operation forces. She was survived by her two kids. Joseph Kent later married Heather Kent.

The US intervened within the Syrian Civil struggle in 2014, primarily to battle ISIS via Operation Inherent Resolve. The US carried out a direct strike towards the Syrian authorities in 2018. In 2019, President Trump withdrew the SDF following the demise of ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.