‘I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran’: High-ranking US intelligence official resigns

This article was originally published by CNN.

(CNN) — A senior US intelligence official appointed by President Donald Trump abruptly announced he is stepping down from his post on Tuesday, citing misgivings about the administration’s war with Iran.

“After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today,” Joe Kent wrote in a post on X.

“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 added in the resignation letter he attached to the post.

The Office of Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After the initial wave of strikes against Iran, Trump cited an “imminent threat” to the US and administration officials said that the US acted in response to potential preemptive attacks by Iran on forces in the region — claims that were contradicted in Pentagon briefings to Capitol Hill where defense officials said Iran was not planning to attack unless struck first.

Trump’s rationale for attacking the Iranian regime has whipsawed from protecting the demonstrators who protested in the streets of Iran in January to defending the US against the risk of Iran building nuclear and long-range weapons and eliminating a regime that’s backed terrorist groups’ killing Americans for decades. He’s called for the Iranian people to take control of their country even as top officials say the war is not about regime change.

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