WASHINGTON, March 23. /TASS/. The United States needs to rein in Israel, otherwise the conflict with Iran will escalate further, said Joe Kent, former director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, who publicly announced his resignation the other day in disagreement with the White House's decision to launch a military operation against Iran.
"Step 1 in de-escalation must be restraining the Israelis, otherwise, all efforts to negotiate will follow this pattern: POTUS publicly announces de-escalation, Israel takes major strikes to destroy the negotiations & in turn weaken our ability to negotiate. The war accelerates," Kent wrote on X.
Kent said on March 17 that Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States, and that Washington started this war under pressure from Israel and its influential lobby.
The National Counterterrorism Center is part of the office of the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28, hitting major cities, including Tehran. The White House justified the attack by missile and nuclear threats allegedly coming from Iran. The US openly called on the Iranian people to turn against their government and seize power. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some other key figures were killed. Iran has launched retaliatory operations against Israel and US facilities in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.