A senior United States intelligence official resigned on Tuesday, citing objections to the ongoing war in Iran launched by Washington and Israel, according to a letter addressed to President Donald Trump.
Joseph Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said in the letter: “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 is the first known member of the administration to step down over the conflict in West Asia.
He added that he could not support “sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives”.
In a separate statement, the White House rejected Kent’s assertion that Iran posed no immediate threat, describing Tehran as “the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism”.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt 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 also alleged that Iran was expanding its short-range ballistic missile capabilities, which, along with its naval strength, could “hold us and the rest of the world hostage”.
“The regime aimed to use those ballistic missiles as a shield to continue achieving their ultimate goal – nuclear weapons,” she said.
Kent’s resignation comes more than two weeks after the United States and Israel began joint strikes on February 28 aimed at what they described as degrading Iran’s military capabilities.
Iran has responded with attacks on Israel, U.S. military installations in the region, and targets in Gulf countries, as well as some commercial shipping.
The escalation follows long-running tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme. Israel has said Tehran is nearing the capability to build a nuclear weapon, a claim Iran denies, maintaining that its programme is for civilian use.
More than 1,400 people have been killed and over 18,000 injured in U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran since February 28, Al Jazeera has reported.