TOP TRUMP OFFICIAL RESIGNS OVER WAR
Counterterrorism chief: 'Iran posed no imminent threat'
Joe Kent, director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, speaks Oct. 7, 2024, during a congressional debate at KATU studios in Portland, Ore.
MIDDLE EAST
WASHINGTON — Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation Tuesday, citing his concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran and saying he "cannot in good conscience" back the Trump administration's war.
Meanwhile, Israel said Tuesday it killed two senior Iranian security officials in overnight strikes in a major blow to the country's leadership. Iran fired salvos of missiles and drones at its Gulf Arab neighbors and Israel in a war that showed no signs of abating.
"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 said in a statement posted on social media, making claims President Donald Trump denies.
Kent, a former Green Beret and political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists, was confirmed last July on a 52-44 Senate vote. As head of the National Counterterrorism Center, he was in charge of an agency tasked with analyzing and detecting terrorist threats.
His resignation reflects unease within Trump's base about the war and shows questions about the justification for the use of force in Iran extend to senior members of his administration.
The change in personnel at one of the nation's top counterterrorism offices comes amid heightened concerns about terrorism in the homeland following attacks within the past week at a Michigan synagogue and a Virginia university.
Trump offered shifting reasons for the strikes and pushed back on claims that Israel forced the U.S. to act.
Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump claimed he always thought Kent was "weak on security" and if someone in his administration did not believe Iran was a threat, "we don't want those people."
"They're not smart people, or they're not savvy people," Trump said. "Iran was a tremendous threat."
A year ago, in nominating Kent, Trump praised him as a man who had "hunted down terrorists and criminals his entire adult life."
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, whose office oversaw Kent's work, wrote on social media Tuesday that it was up to Trump to decide whether Iran posed a threat.
Democrats opposed Kent's confirmation, pointing to his past ties to far-right figures and conspiracy theories. But following Kent's resignation, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Kent's concerns about the war in Iran were justified.
"I strongly disagree with many of the positions he has espoused over the years, particularly those that risk politicizing our intelligence community," Warner said. "But on this point, he is right: There was no credible evidence of an imminent threat from Iran that would justify rushing the United States into another war of choice in the Middle East."
Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliff e and FBI Director Kash Patel are scheduled to testify before lawmakers this week about threats facing the U.S., an annual hearing that this year is likely to be taken up by questions about the Iran war and in particular the revelation that outdated intelligence likely led to the U.S. firing a missile that hit an elementary school in Iran and killed more than 165 people.
Israel says it killed officials
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard's all-volunteer Basij force, were "eliminated last night," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said. Larijani was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war.
The Iranian judiciary's news agency, Mizan, confirmed the killing of Soleimani. Iran has not confirmed or denied the reported killing of Larijani as of Tuesday afternoon.
Both men were key to Iran's violent crackdown on protests in January that challenged the theocracy's 47-year rule. The killings would strip Iran of important leaders during a war that presents the greatest test for the Islamic Republic in recent decades.
With concerns growing about a global energy crisis, Iran launched fresh attacks against several of its Gulf Arab neighbors and oil infrastructure throughout the region. Dubai, a major transit hub for international travel, briefly shut its airspace, the second disruption to flights in the city in as many days.
An Iranian official said Tehran had no intention of relinquishing its tight grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil.
On Tuesday, Trump said NATO and most other allies rejected his calls to help secure the strait as the war rages on. Trump, who pressured allies to help safeguard the critical waterway, fumed that the U.S. is not getting support "despite the fact that almost every country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot" be allowed to secure a nuclear weapon.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
A handful of ships have crossed through the strait, and Iran said the vital waterway technically remains open — just not for the United States, Israel and their allies. About 20 vessels have been struck since the war began.
