The Trump administration’s Iran war lost one of its own insiders Tuesday when Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned — saying the war was unjustified and that Iran “posed no imminent threat to our nation.”

Kent, a 45-year-old decorated special forces veteran and one of Trump’s most committed loyalists, broke sharply with the president in a resignation statement posted online. He asserted that “high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign” to push the United States into conflict with Iran.

The resignation is significant for San Diego. Marines, Navy personnel, and their families at Camp Pendleton, MCAS Miramar, and Naval Base San Diego are bearing the direct weight of Operation Epic Fury. As of Tuesday, the Pentagon had confirmed approximately 140 service members wounded and seven killed since the war began Feb. 28. Many of those service members are stationed in the San Diego region.

Kent’s departure comes as President Trump is facing mounting criticism from within his own coalition over the war’s rationale. Trump defended the conflict in response, saying Iran “was wrong” and that Kent was mistaken about the threat.

The war’s impacts are being felt acutely in East County and across the broader San Diego region — in surging gas prices, heightened base security, military families in limbo, and ongoing debates about the conflict’s legal justification. Kent’s resignation adds a new dimension: a top official with combat experience and direct access to intelligence saying this war should not have started.