Former US counterterrorism chief Joe Kent accused CENTCOM of bypassing the White House to escalate conflict with Iran. Kent said, "This is CENTCOM inviting Iran to escalate while the Vice President is attempting to negotiate." He warned that military actions risk a new war despite voters wanting the troops home.
Former US counterterrorism chief Joe Kent has accused CENTCOM of undermining diplomatic efforts with Iran, warning that its naval operation risks reigniting the war.
Joe Kent, a former US counter terrorism chief who resigned earlier this year, has accused the US CENTCOM of a "brash provocation" and undermining diplomacy by extending the naval operation to Iran. He claimed that it was the military finding ways to bypass the White House.
"This is CENTCOM inviting Iran to escalate while the Vice President is attempting to negotiate with the Iranians," Kent, former director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, wrote on X.
"This is, as CENTCOM calls it, 'policy by CONOP,' when the military finds a way to subvert the White House without blatantly disobeying the President, by taking actions that will ensure a war escalates or perpetuates," he said.
"This tactic was implemented over & over again in the War on Terror in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, etc. Many Americans died, needlessly," Kent added.
He also argued that the debate inside the administration over keeping the blockade or resuming airstrikes, which he called a proposed "Mini Epic Fury," was "an illusion of choice." Enforcing the blockade, he wrote, "keeps our troops in harm's way & risks a shoot-down that would inevitably launch us back into kinetic war."
Kent tied his criticism to last week's midterm elections. "The midterm results sent a message that the President should find impossible to ignore: the American people do not support this war. We want out," he said. He urged Trump to "install a new national security team, one that's not tied to starting the war and can instead end it."
The announcement comes as mediators work to end the war amid fears it could reignite after the midterms. Iran's Revolutionary Guard has said it lifted a self-imposed 2,000 km limit on its ballistic missile range.
Kent resigned in March, saying Iran posed no imminent threat. Trump responded that he had always considered Kent weak on security. The White House has not said whether Trump approved Iron Gate. But the US has previously chosen to attack Iran while there was ongoing diplomacy.