US EditionTrump's Failed Strong-Arming of Allies on Iran Shows that Pressure Is Losing Its Effect
Joe Kent resigned as National Counterterrorism Center director citing opposition to the Iran war, marking the first senior U.S. official to do so amid rising anti-war dissent.
- Overnight, National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent resigned, saying he could not in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran, marking the first senior government resignation tied to the conflict.
- Western allies have resisted calls for military help, with Britain refusing involvement and China ignoring requests, while France offered conditional escorts pending talks, French official Guillaume Vernet said.
- A Trump-nominated veteran, Kent, whose wife Shannon Kent was killed in 2019, resigned over the Iran war, marking a first senior government defection.
- The resignation intensifies pressure on the president, as Trump dismissed Kent as "weak on security" and pressed European allies for support.
- The resignation complicates coalition-building because commentators draw an ironic parallel between Iran 2026 and the 2003 Iraq war, underscoring strategic issues over the Strait of Hormuz.
17 Articles
17 Articles
The Toronto Star
Trump’s failed strong-arming of allies on Iran shows that pressure is losing its effect
Trump is demanding — not just requesting — that allies send warships to help the U.S. unblock the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's traded oil
Associated Press News
Trump's failed strong-arming of allies on Iran shows that pressure is losing its effect
We’ve long had your back, now it’s our turn. That is how the famously transactional U.S. President Donald Trump is framing his demands that allies help him with the Iran war.
Joe Kent, the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, is the first senior Trump administration official to resign over the conflict, now in its third week. A White House spokesman said Trump had strong and compelling evidence that Iran would attack the United States first.
The crisis exposes Trump, increasingly isolated, to internal divisions and without allies to sustain his strategy in Iran. By Andrés Gil / Javier Biosca Azcoiti Washington / Madrid — “We don’t need anyone’s help!” Donald Trump’s outbreak in the form of a post continues to resonate hours after it has been published in Truth Social after finding that no ally, European or Asian, wants to share the military costs and in the lives of soldiers of a wa…
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