On 17th March, one of the senior USA security officials resigned over the war in Iran, arguing that the nation had never offered any threat of immediate danger to the United States.
The first senior official in the Trump administration to resign over the conflict, now in its third week, is Joe Kent, who headed the National Counterterrorism Centre.
“A good conscience cannot with me endorse the continuance of the war in Iran. Iran did not present any immediate danger to our country, and it is undisputed that we went to war because Israel and its influential American lobby insisted that we do so,” said Kent in a letter published on social media.
Certain scholars have stated that an immediate danger would be needed in order for the United States to declare war under the international law of war.
The letter from Kent to Trump contained “false statements,” according to a statement made by White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
According to Leavitt, “President Trump had clear-cut and explicit evidence that the United States had strong evidence that Iran was going to attack it first. This evidence was collected based on numerous sources and factors.”
Kent was not available to comment on the requests, and the office of the Director of National Intelligence that manages the counterterrorism centre was also silent.
Kent is known to be against military interventions
Kent is no exception and has been famous due to his America First ideology, and has indicated that he does not support American involvement in other countries using military presence.
“Nevertheless, the news was unexpected,” as one of the American officials said.
Kent is close to the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who has remained low profile since the start of the Iran war.
Gabbard said on social media on Tuesday that President Trump had made the conclusion that the “terrorist Islamist government in Iran was an immediate threat to the United States and acted based on that determination.”
Assessments before and after the U.S. strikes commenced, published by the National Intelligence Council, which is under the watch of the office of Gabbard, depicted the dangers of the U.S. intervention.
According to those reports, the Iranian government would not collapse and would most likely respond to U.S. outposts in the area and allies of the Gulf, as previously reported by Reuters.
The Democrats have criticised Kent for his affiliations with far-right individuals. Kent has been reportedly associated by the media with Nick Fuentes, a self-avowed white nationalist. Kent has since condemned the views of Fuentes.
The most Democratic Senator, Mark Warner of Virginia, who sits on the Intelligence Committee, has indicated that he ought never to have been appointed to chair the counterterrorism office.
“On this, however, he is correct: There was no plausible case of an impending danger by Iran that would compel the United States into another war of choice, which would be rushed into,” said Warner in a statement.
One year ago, Kent urged intelligence analysts to rewrite an assessment of the Venezuelan gang, Tren De Aragua, that failed to support the argument of the White House that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was running the gang’s activities. The administration had stacked the gang as a security risk in order to justify its crackdown on immigration.
