‘I Personally Think [Trump] Should Have Crushed Their Ballistic & Nuke Capes’

Joe Kent claimed on Tuesday that he did not believe the Iranian regime had presented an “imminent threat” to the United States prior to President Donald Trump’s decision to attack — but he sang a very different tune in 2020, when he called for the elimination of Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

Kent announced that he was leaving his post as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, and claimed in his resignation letter he could not “in good conscience” support the joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran, at least in part because there was no “imminent threat” to the United States from the regime.

But in January of 2020, when a U.S. strike ordered by President Trump eliminated top Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, Kent argued on social media that the president — to his way of thinking — had not gone far enough.

On January 7, four days after Soleimani was killed, Kent appeared to address the threats coming from Iran promising retaliation for the strike on their general: “We remain in striking distance by choice for no clear benefit. We should crush their ballistic & nuke capes and get out of Iraq, with sanctions to follow. Cut Iran off from funds and targets. Let them deal with proxies looking for $ & their protesters. We don’t need IZ (Iraq) or IR (Iran).”

One day later, on January 8, Iran launched a dozen ballistic missiles at two targets in Iraq: Al Asad Airbase and another site near Irbil.

“Trump’s restraint shows that he wants a deal with Iran & his red line is American loss of life & IR nuke development. Our fundamental venerability remains — Troops in striking range of IR weapons & proxies w/ no vital US mission,” Kent posted on the 8th, adding, “I personally think we should have crushed their ballistic & nuke capes, but Trump has a plan, he has definitely earned the confidence of any clear eyed observer.”

Even as recently as 2024, Kent’s posture toward Iran was far more in line with President Donald Trump’s current actions than with his own resignation letter that would come less than two years later.

On October 7, 2024 — one year after Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists crossed the border into Israel and slaughtered more than one thousand Israelis — Kent blamed former President Joe Biden’s administration for allowing Iran access to the kind of money that could fund such an operation.

“October 7th b/c happened Biden/Harris gave Iran access to over 100 billion,” Kent posted. “Trump used diplomacy to build the Abraham accords, cut off Iran’s funding & killed key terrorists. America & our allies were safe & there was less war. No more neocons, no appeasement, Trump ‘24.”

Just a few weeks earlier, he took a similar tone: “Iran’s goal in orchestrating 7 Oct was to break up the Abraham accords because the historic alliance isolated Iran’s terror regime. Trump used a balance of diplomacy, economic pressure & targeted strikes to contain Iran. The embodiment of peace through strength. Israel’s dismantling of Hezbollah would have been much more challenging, if not impossible had Trump not taken out Iran’s terror mastermind Qasim Solemani.”

On March 17, 2026, however, Kent claimed in his resignation letter that Iran posed no “imminent threat” to the United States and that Trump was taking action against the regime because he was being pushed into it by Israel.

“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,” he wrote.

“Who got to Joe Kent?” Steve Guest wondered.