President Donald Trump took aim at Joe Kent, the official who quit over reservations about the war in Iran, saying he "always thought he was weak on security."
"It's a good thing that he's out," Trump told press at the Oval Office on Tuesday. "I realized that it's a good thing that he's out because he said Iran was not a threat. It was a threat. every country realized what a threat it was. The question was whether or not they wanted to do something about it. Many of the greatest military scholars said for years that a president should have taken out Iran," Trump added.
Trump on Joe Kent: "I always thought he was weak on security. Very weak on security. It's a good thing that he's out." pic.twitter.com/225kN39r2f
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 17, 2026
Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned over the prosecution of the war, saying in a statement on social media "I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation."
"It is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby," he added. Kent worked under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who has kept a low profile since the war began.
Other figures close to Trump came out to slam Kent. One of them was House Speaker Mike Johnson, who said during a press conference that he is part of the Gang of Eight and "got all the briefings."
"We all understood there was clearly an imminent threat that Iran was very close to the enrichment of nuclear capability," he said, noting that Tehran was "building missiles at a rate that no one in the region could keep up with. far outpacing our defense capabilities."
"I don't know where Joe Kent is getting his information but he wasn't in those briefings. because the secretary of state, the secretary of war and everyone in the joint chiefs of staff had exquisite intelligence," Johnson added.
"Had the president waited, I am personally convinced that we would have had mass casualties. The president felt he had to strike first to prevent those mass casualties."
The war continues in the meantime. The U.S. embassy in Iraq was attacked by drones and rockets. Of the seven projectiles launched, one made it through defenses and struck an empty slab of concrete. There were no injuries or serious damages reported.
Israel also said it killed Iran's top security official Ali Larijani, as well as the head of the Basij force, a local militia tasked with suppressing protests. Tehran did not immediately confirm the claims.
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