A senior U.S. counterterrorism official stepped down on Tuesday, citing opposition to the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran and arguing that the Islamic Republic poses no immediate threat to the United States.

Joseph Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center and a former Green Beret with multiple combat tours, submitted his resignation letter to President Donald Trump. In the letter, Kent declared: “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran.”

Kent criticized the administration’s decision to launch military action, claiming it was driven by pressure from Israel and its American supporters rather than genuine national security concerns. He warned that the conflict mirrors the lead-up to the Iraq war, which cost thousands of American lives.

“You once recognized that endless wars in the Middle East drained our nation of lives and prosperity,” Kent wrote, accusing pro-war voices in Israeli leadership and U.S. media of spreading misinformation to push for confrontation with Iran.

Kent’s resignation marks the first high-level departure from the Trump administration over the war. He concluded his letter by rejecting the idea of sending “the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people.”