Former Trump Deputy National Security Adviser KT McFarland on Tuesday criticized National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent's decision to resign, telling Newsmax his opposition to the Iran war ignores decades of Tehran's animosity toward the United States.
McFarland, appearing on "National Report," reacted to Kent stepping down over his opposition to the Iran conflict, suggesting his reasoning is deeply flawed.
In his resignation, Kent said that Iran posed no imminent threat to the U.S. and accused the Trump administration of starting the war "due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."
McFarland said that position ignores decades of Iranian aggression targeting Americans at home and abroad.
"I find this really complicated and not so complicated," she said, before distilling what she described as Kent's argument.
"Here's a guy who is saying, it's not my problem. It's not America's problem," McFarland told Newsmax. "Iran might be getting nuclear weapons, Iran may have sleeper cells, but he says it's our fault, it's America's fault."
She said such thinking is dangerous given Iran's long track record of Middle Eastern aggression and Western hostility.
"I just find it incomprehensible that somebody can say that Iran doesn't present a problem to the United States," McFarland said.
She pointed to her own experience during the Reagan administration, recalling the killing of a Pentagon colleague by the Iranian regime.
"My military assistant was killed by Iran," McFarland said. "Killed, tortured. It's gone on for decades."
She argued the current U.S. strategy is finally confronting that reality head-on.
"We have a president who wants to cut off the head of the snake, and Iran is the head of the snake," McFarland said.
She outlined what she described as a sweeping campaign dismantling Iran's nuclear program, missile capabilities, and military leadership. According to McFarland, the administration is systematically weakening Tehran's ability to wage terror and project power.
"We're finally addressing Iran, finally dealing with Iran," she said, adding that "the end is in sight" for the regime's decades-long threat.
McFarland contrasted that approach with Kent's decision to resign, calling it a baffling moment of dissent.
"And somehow an American official decides this is his moment to criticize the United States," she said. "I just don't get it."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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