The director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, on Tuesday resigned his position, citing the war the U.S. is waging against Iran.

Mr Kent, whose roles involved advising President Donald Trump on terror threats, announced his resignation in a post on X.

“After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today,” Mr Kent said.

“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,” he said.

Alleging that Israel pushed the United States into war with Iran, Mr Kent said he could not “in good conscience” support the ongoing war.

He said Israel “sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran” through lobbying tactics that “robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.”

The counterterrorism boss stated that he supported the values and the foreign policies which the U.S. President campaigned on for his first term in office.

“In your first administration, you understood better than any modern President how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars. You demonstrated this by killing Qasam Solamani and by defeating ISIS,” he said.

He however expressed concern, stating 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.”

Mr Kent said he hoped that Mr Trump would rethink the essence of its ongoing war with Iran and who benefits from it.

He urged Mr Trump to choose between reversing the war to chart a new path for the United States of America or slipping further toward decline and chaos.