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Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent warned on Wednesday that Israel may attempt to "sabotage" the two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.
He called on Washington to begin withdrawing features of military support from Israel to prevent it from undermining the peace that Trump is working to achieve.
Kent issued the warning in a video posted on X, welcoming the ceasefire while urging immediate action to constrain Israel.
"It's absolutely essential that we ensure that the Israelis do not sabotage this two-week ceasefire or eventually the lasting peace that we're trying to achieve with the Iranians," Kent said.
"We're on the cusp of being able to have the Strait of Hormuz reopened, to hopefully start to get the world energy supply and commerce back online. The last thing we need is the Israelis doing what they have done in past negotiations and targeting negotiators or taking a series of strikes that escalates the conflict," he added.
Kent said restraining Israel would require concrete action, not assurances.
"In order to ensure that we can restrain the Israelis, we actually have to start removing features of the military support that we give to them," Kent said.
"We have to take away enough from them that they simply cannot go on the offensive, that they're using all the military capabilities that we provide for them, and that they have organically, for the defense of their country and not for offensive operations inside of Iran," he noted.
Kent called the step "absolutely critical," adding that the U.S. cannot simply take Israel's word that it agrees to the ceasefire.
"They have a very bad track record of adhering to these deals," he said.
Kent argued that Israel's goals in the conflict are fundamentally misaligned with Washington's pursuit of a negotiated peace.
"Israel has a different strategic outcome than we do. Us working towards any kind of a deal with the Iranian government works against the Israeli strategic objectives of toppling this government completely and totally," he said.
"Israel could spoil any peace that President Trump is working to achieve. So we have to keep that in mind," Kent noted.
He also assessed the military campaign more broadly, saying, "Basically, every action militarily that we've taken has only strengthened the regime, and it's done a lot to destabilize the entire region and to take away the security and safety of the free commerce of all the energy and oil and natural gas that flows out of the region through the Strait of Hormuz."
Kent resigned from his government role last month after publicly opposing the Iran war, arguing that Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States.
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