US must cut military, intelligence assistance to Israel to protect Iran deal: Ex-Trump official

A former official in US President Donald Trump's administration says cutting US assistance to Israel could help strengthen the agreement between Tehran and Washington, amid the Tel Aviv regime's continuous attempts to sabotage regional peace.

Joe Kent, who left the administration after disagreements over the United States' joint unprovoked aggression against Iran alongside the regime, made the remarks in a post on X on Monday.

He welcomed the prospect of the conclusion of a memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington that could be followed by an agreement.

Kent said the durability of any agreement with Iran could be improved if the United States reconsidered its military and intelligence support for the regime, saying that Israeli officials have opposed efforts to achieve a diplomatic settlement.

The former Trump administration official said Washington should seek to eliminate factors that could prompt the US to resume the aggression "on Israel's terms."

A day earlier, Iran's Foreign Ministry had announced that the MoU had been finalized and would be officially signed in Switzerland on Friday.

On April 7, Trump announced a ceasefire in the aggression, which had begun targeting the Islamic Republic on February 28 amid widely-reported Israeli instigation.

The announcement came amid decisive and successful Iranian retaliation and after the Islamic Republic announced closure of the Strait of Hormuz to enemies and their allies.

Following the announcement, though, the Israeli regime would keep violating another ceasefire in Lebanon, despite Tehran's insistence that cessation of aggression should encompass all fronts.

Kent also advocated reducing the US military footprint at bases in the Persian Gulf's littoral states.

"We should also quietly get our troops out of the bases in the [Persian] Gulf that can be reached by Iran," he wrote.

Iran's retaliation featured strikes on American outposts in the Persian Gulf's coastal states that had allowed their territories to be used as launchpads for attacks on the Islamic Republic.

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