‘Restrain the Israelis first’: Joe Kent, who quit as Trump’s aide, on US President’s climbdown on Iran war
After US President Donald Trump claimed to have held two days of talks with Iran, which he described as “productive”, his former counter-terror adviser Joseph ‘Joe’ Kent said the war would end only if US ally Israel is retrained first. US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport on March 23, 2026. (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images/AFP Photo) “Step 1 in deescalation must be restraining the Israelis, otherwise all efforts to negotiate will follow this pattern: POTUS publicly announces deescalation. Israel takes major strikes to destroy the negotiations & in turn weaken our ability to negotiate. The war accelerates,” Joe Kent wrote on X. Israel has not immediately reacted to Trump’s claims, while Iran has denied any such talks were being held. Trump, however, doubled down on his claim after he announced that, owing to the “talks”, he was postponing by five days his threat to hit energy sites. Iran mocked him in turn, saying he’s “backed down”. Trump still told US TV channels that Iran “wants to …



