White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday raged over Joe Kent's resignation as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, saying his claims about Iran resembled Democratic political attacks.

Kent announced his resignation on Tuesday morning, citing his opposition to the Iran war. He specifically asserted that Iran was not a threat to the United States and insisted that Trump had been lured into the conflict by Israeli lobbyists and that he had been flooded with false promises of an easy victory and popular support.

Leavitt, for her part, posted a lengthy dispute of Kent's assertions, primarily taking issue with the assertion that Iran was not a threat to the United States.

"This is the same false claim that Democrats and some in the liberal media have been repeating over and over," she posted.
"As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first."

Leavitt did not provide evidence for that assertion, beyond stating that Trump had said so publicly. 

"Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.

The Iranian regime is evil. It proudly killed Americans, waged war against our country, and openly threatened us all the way up to the launch of Operation Epic Fury," she went on.

Leavitt primarily pointed to Iran's short-range ballistic missile program and its navy, which she said would give Tehran "immunity" and permit them to "hold us and the rest of the world hostage."

"The Commander-in-Chief determines what does and does not constitute a threat, because he is the one constitutionally empowered to do so - and because the American people went to the ballot box and entrusted him and him alone to make such final judgments," she insisted.

She further denied that Trump made the decision to start the conflict at the behest of others, rather than on his own initiative.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.