'Good thing that he's out' : Trump after top counterterror official quits over Iran war

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said it was a good thing that Joe Kent stepped down as director of the National Counterterrorism Center after opposing the ongoing war with Iran. Trump called the former intelligence official “very weak on security,” according to CNN.

Also read: 'Iran posed no imminent threat': US counterterror chief Joe Kent quits over Iran war

Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, Trump dismissed Kent’s assessment that Iran did not pose an immediate threat to the United States.

“When somebody is working with us that says they didn’t think Iran was a threat, we don’t want those people,” Trump said. “They’re not smart people, or they’re not savvy people.”

Trump’s remarks came hours after Kent announced his resignation in a letter explaining that he could not support the administration’s military campaign against Tehran.

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war with Iran,” Kent wrote in the letter. In the same communication, he also asserted that Iran posed “no imminent threat” to the United States and accused Israel of pushing the Trump administration toward war.

Kent had been appointed by Trump to lead the National Counterterrorism Center. The president said he had previously viewed him positively but rejected his position on Iran.

“I always thought he was a nice guy,” Trump told reporters, before adding that “it’s a good thing that he’s out.”

“Iran was a threat,” the president said. “Every country realized what a threat Iran was.”

Following Kent’s resignation, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also issued a detailed statement on X defending the administration’s decision to launch military action against Iran and disputing Kent’s claim that Tehran posed no immediate danger.

 

 

 

 

“There are many false claims in this letter but let me address one specifically: that ‘Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation,’” Leavitt wrote.

“This is the same false claim that Democrats and some in the liberal media have been repeating over and over,” the press secretary said.

Leavitt said Trump had acted on intelligence indicating that Iran was preparing to strike first.

“As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first,” she said.

“This evidence was compiled from many sources and factors. President Trump would never make the decision to deploy military assets against a foreign adversary in a vacuum,” Leavitt added.

“Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism,” she said.

“The Iranian regime is evil. It proudly killed Americans, waged war against our country, and openly threatened us all the way up to the launch of Operation Epic Fury,” Leavitt noted.

“Iran had been aggressively expanding their short-range ballistic missiles to combine with their naval assets to give themselves immunity – meaning they would have a degree of a capabilities that would give them immunity to hold us and the rest of the world hostage,” she wrote.

“The regime aimed to use those ballistic missiles as a shield to continue achieving their ultimate goal – nuclear weapons,” she added.

Leavitt said the administration had explored diplomatic options before deciding on military action.

“The President, through his top negotiators, gave the regime every single possible opportunity to abandon this unacceptable course by permanently giving up their nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief, free nuclear fuel, and potential economic partnerships with our country,” she said.

“But they would not say yes to peace because obtaining nuclear weapons was their fundamental goal,” Leavitt added.

The press secretary said Trump ultimately concluded that acting alongside Israel would reduce the risk of a first strike against the United States.

“President Trump ultimately made the determination that a joint attack with Israel would greatly reduce the risk to American lives that would come from a first strike by the terrorist Iranian regime and address this imminent threat to America’s national security interests,” she said.

“All of this led to President Trump arriving at the determination that this military operation was necessary for U.S. national security, which is why he launched the massively successful Operation Epic Fury,” Leavitt noted.

She also rejected claims that Trump’s decision had been shaped by outside influence.

“The Commander-in-Chief determines what does and does not constitute a threat, because he is the one constitutionally empowered to do so — and because the American people went to the ballot box and entrusted him and him alone to make such final judgments,” she said.

“And finally, the absurd allegation that President Trump made this decision based on the influence of others, even foreign countries, is both insulting and laughable,” the press secretary added.

“President Trump has been remarkably consistent and has said for DECADES that Iran can NEVER possess a nuclear weapon,” she wrote.

“As someone who actually witnesses President Trump’s decision-making process on a daily basis, I can attest to the fact that he is always looking to do what’s in the best interest of the United States of America — period,” Leavitt said.