White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has assailed outgoing US national counterterrorism chief Joe Kent, who resigned earlier today over his opposition to the war in Iran.

“There are many false claims in this letter, but let me address one specifically: that ‘Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation,’” Leavitt has said on X, referring to Kent’s resignation letter.

She noted that this was the “same false claim” repeated by “Democrats and some in the liberal media”.

“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 added.

“This evidence was compiled from many sources and factors. President Trump would never make the decision to deploy military assets against a foreign adversary in a vacuum.”

Calling Tehran the “number one state sponsor of terrorism”, Leavitt has alleged that Iran “proudly killed Americans” and openly threatened Washington until the launch of Operation Epic Fury.

“Iran was aggressively expanding their short-range ballistic missiles to combine with their naval assets to give themselves immunity – meaning they would have a degree of a capabilities [sic] that would give them immunity to hold us and the rest of the world hostage,” Leavitt added.