Trump’s Counter-terrorism Chief Resigns as Israel Announces Killing of Iran’s Security Chief

• Number of US troops wounded in war against Iran rises to 200 

•Trump:  US no longer needs NATO  

•Iran’s new supreme leader rejects de-escalation proposals

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The United States’ security architecture was thrown into turmoil yesterday after President Donald Trump’s Counter-terrorism Chief, Joe Kent, resigned amid deepening divisions over the war with Iran.

The resignation of Kent signalled a rare internal dissent at the highest levels of Washington’s national security establishment, with disagreements centred on the justification of US involvement in the conflict.

The development coincided with Israel’s confirmation that it had eliminated a central figure in Iran’s leadership hierarchy, Ali Larijani, a move expected to further destabilise Tehran’s command structure and intensify hostilities across the region.

Besides, the scale of the conflict has become more evident, with the number of wounded American troops rising to about 200, highlighting the intensifying operational tempo of the war.

Also, in a statement that could reshape global security alliances, Trump yesterday declared that the US no longer needs the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), signalling a potential departure from decades of transatlantic defence cooperation.

Israel Announces Killing of De Facto Iranian Leader

The Israeli military said yesterday that it had killed one of Iran’s highest-ranking leaders, Ali Larijani, in an overnight airstrike near Tehran, dealing another severe blow to a power structure already decimated by three weeks of US-Israeli strikes.

The killing of Larijani who became Iran’s de facto leader after US-Israeli airstrikes killed the upper echelons of Iran’s government and military removes one of Iran’s most prominent voices of defiance. But Larijani was also an influential pragmatist who was seen as having the clout to negotiate with the United States.

His death could embolden even more hard-line Iranian leaders who believe that the Islamic Republic can survive only by doubling down, the New York Times reported.

Similarly, the Israeli military also said on Tuesday that it had killed Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the Basij, Iran’s powerful plainclothes militia. The Iranian authorities and state media did not comment on the Israeli announcements. But two Iranian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, said they believed Larijani and Soleimani had been killed.

Larijani, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was a close confidant of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader who was killed in an Israeli airstrike at the start of the war on February 28. Larijani in effect ran Iran behind the scenes even before Ayatollah Khamenei’s death, leading the brutal crackdown early this year on protests against Islamic rule.

He took on a more prominent role in key decision making during the war, including after the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader.  Larijani had opposed that choice, lobbying for a more moderate option.

Larijani’s killing on Tuesday showed that Israel was not slowing in its effort to eliminate top leaders of a regime it considered an existential threat. “We are undermining this regime in the hope of giving the Iranian people an opportunity to remove it,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said, although he conceded that would “not happen easily.”

The death of Larijani also renews serious questions about Trump’s endgame for the war: He has not clearly articulated his goals or how the assault on Iran might end, and he has acknowledged that many of the Iranian officials that the United States might have negotiated with have been killed.

“We don’t even know their leaders,” Mr. Trump said on Monday. “We have people wanting to negotiate,” he added. “We have no idea who they are.”

US Director of Counter-terrorism Resigns, Says Iran Posed No Imminent Threat

Also yesterday the Director of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, Joe Kent, announced his resignation, citing his concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran and saying he “cannot in good conscience” back the Trump administration’s war.

Kent said on social media that 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,” per AP.

Kent, a former political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists, was confirmed to his post last July on a 52-44 vote. As head of the National Counterterrorism Centre, he was in charge of an agency tasked with analysing and detecting terrorist threats.

His resignation reflects unease within Trump’s base about the war and shows that questions about the justification for the use of force in Iran extend to the right of President Donald Trump’s base and to senior members of the administration.

Trump has offered shifting reasons for the strikes and has pushed back on claims that Israel forced the US to act. Earlier this month, House Speaker Mike Johnson, suggested that the White House believed Israel was determined to act on its own, leaving the Republican president with a “very difficult decision.”

A spokesperson for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard did not immediately respond to questions about Kent’s resignation. The White House also had no immediate comment on Kent’s resignation.

Before entering Trump’s administration, Kent ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Congress in Washington state. He also served in the military, seeing 11 deployments as a Green Beret, followed by work at the CIA.

“After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today. I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. 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.

“I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term. Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.

“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.

“Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory.

“This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.

“As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot 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.

“I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for. The time for bold action is now. You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards. It was an honor to serve in your administration and to serve our great nation,” Kent wrote.

Trump:  US No Longer Needs NATO

Trump yesterday said the United States does not need NATO after being rebuffed by a number of the organisation’s member countries over his appeal for a multi-national naval force to reopen the key strait of Hormuz trade route closed by Iran.

Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, the US president described the rejection of his calls as a “very foolish mistake”, adding without evidence: “Everyone agrees with us, but they don’t want to help. And we, you know, we as the United States have to remember that because we think it’s pretty shocking.”

Trump added that he thought Europe would have sent minesweepers to assist the with the operation in the strait, adding that it was “not a big deal” but was “unfair” to the US.

Once again among Trump’s targets was the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, who Trump said he was disappointed with, adding that the relationship with the UK had been good before Starmer took office.

The US president’s remarks came after Starmer said on Monday that while the UK would be “taking the necessary action to defend ourselves and our allies, we will not be drawn into the wider war”. British government sources said there was no plan for UK ships to be deployed in the strait.

A number of US allies have questioned Trump’s changing logic for, and the necessity of, the US-Israeli war against Iran, now in its third week, the Guardian UK reported.

In an earlier post on his Truth Social network, Trump also called out Japan, Australia and South Korea for saying they would not be sending warships. “Because of the fact that we have had such military success, we no longer ‘need,’ or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance _ We Never Did!” he wrote.

His remarks came in the midst of an escalating crisis in the Middle East, which has seen Iran attack cargo vessels transiting the strait of Hormuz bringing oil shipments from large parts of the Gulf to a halt and triggering sharp rises in the global price of oil.

On a typical day, ships carrying about a fifth of the world’s oil travel through the narrow passageway but Iran has said it would not now allow “even a single litre” to be shipped to its enemies. That has sent oil prices above $100 per barrel and threatened a surge in inflation for the global economy.

In response to reports that he was considering potential ground operations by American or Israeli forces – either in the shape of taking over the Kharg Island oil port complex or in the area of Isfahan where Iran has stored stores much of its of highly enriched uranium – Trump said, “I’m really not afraid of that. I’m really not afraid of anything” when asked if such a move might risk a Vietnam-style quagmire.

Iran’s New Supreme Leader Rejects De-escalation Proposals

Iran’s new supreme leader has rejected de-escalation proposals conveyed to Tehran by intermediaries, demanding Israel and the United States first be “brought to their knees”, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday.

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had held his first foreign policy session since being named supreme leader, and had taken a stance for revenge against the US and Israel that was “very tough and serious”, the official said, without clarifying whether the leader attended in person or remotely.

The senior official, who asked not to be identified, said two intermediary countries had conveyed proposals to Iran’s Foreign Ministry for “reducing tensions or ceasefire with the United States”.

The official did not give further details of the proposals or the intermediaries. The supreme leader had responded that it was not “the right time for peace until the United States and Israel are brought to their knees, accept defeat, and pay compensation,” Reuters reported.

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The supreme leader has the final say in all matters of state in the Islamic Republic. No new images have been released of him since his selection over a week ago by a clerical assembly to replace his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Some Iranian officials have said he was lightly injured in the strikes that killed his father. US officials have suggested he suffered severe injuries.

Report: Trump Was Warned of Likely Iranian Retaliation on Gulf Allies

Trump was warned that attacking Iran could trigger retaliation against US Gulf allies despite his claims on Monday that Tehran’s reaction came as a surprise, said a US official and two sources familiar with US intelligence reports.

Pre-war intelligence assessments did not say that Iran’s response was “a guarantee, but it certainly was on the list of potential outcomes,” said one source, who like the other two requested anonymity to discuss the issue.

The president twice on Monday said that Iran’s retaliatory strikes against Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait were a surprise, the first time at a Kennedy Center board meeting in the White House.

“They (Iran) weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East,” he said. “Nobody expected that. We were shocked.”

Trump’s assertion followed other administration claims that have not been backed by US intelligence reporting, such as that Iran would soon have a missile capable of hitting the US homeland and that it would need two to four weeks to make a nuclear bomb and would then use it.

Those allegations and an imminent threat posed by Iran to the US and its forces in the region have been among varying reasons that Trump and some top aides have given to justify his decision to join Israel in launching their air war against Iran on February 28.

Trump was also briefed ahead of the operation that Tehran would likely seek to close the economically vital Strait of Hormuz, according to two other sources familiar with the matter, Reuters said.

Over the past two weeks, Iranian drones and missiles have struck targets in the Gulf states that have included US military bases and an Emirates base hosting French troops, civilian structures, including hotels, airports, and energy facilities.

Number of US Troops Wounded Rises to 200

The number of US troops wounded in the war against Iran has  risen to about 200, the US military said, as the conflict entered its third week. The US military’s Central Command said the vast majority of those wounded had suffered minor injuries and 180 troops had already returned to duty. Ten of the injuries are serious, it said.

Troops had been injured in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq, and Israel, Central Command added. Thirteen US troops have been killed since Iran launched strikes against US military bases following the start of the conflict on February 28.

Iranian attacks have also struck diplomatic missions, hotels and airports, and damaged energy infrastructure in Arab Gulf states. Last week, Reuters reported that as many as 150 US troops had been wounded in the conflict, highlighting the danger from Iranian strikes.

The United States, meanwhile, has carried out strikes against more than 7,000 targets in Iran.

About a dozen MQ-9 drones have been destroyed in the war, said a US official on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.