PANews reported on March 17 that Joe Kent, director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, resigned because he claimed Israel forced the U.S. to wage war against Iran. Earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio's remarks sparked controversy among the president's supporters, claiming that Israel's insistence on attacking Iran forced the U.S. to take action. Rubio later changed his statement, while Trump denied that this was the U.S.'s initial intention. When asked if Israel forced Trump to take action against Iran, Trump stated, "Based on how the negotiations went, I think they (Iran) were originally going to attack first. I didn't want that to happen. So, if I had to say, it might be that I forced Israel to act." This argument failed to convince Kent, whose wife, Sharon, was killed in a suicide bombing in Syria in 2019. In his resignation letter, he wrote, "Israel has conducted a 'disinformation offensive,' completely undermining your 'America First' ideology and inciting sentiment for war in order to push for conflict with Iran." Kent wrote, "I hope you will seriously consider what we have done in Iran and for whom we have done it."


