US President Donald Trump is reportedly considering withdrawing the US from NATO, the latest threat to US allies reluctant to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
In an interview with the Telegraph, President Trump described the 77-year-old defense alliance as a “paper tiger,” and when asked if he would reconsider America’s membership in the bloc after the end of the Iran conflict, he told the paper: “Oh, yeah, there’s no reason to reconsider.”
“I have never been at the mercy of NATO. I have always known that NATO is a papier-mâché tiger, and by the way, President Putin knows that, too,” he said in comments published Wednesday.
President Trump is furious at European allies’ refusal to send warships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil and gas seaway controlled by Iran, and the United States’ refusal to use military bases to launch attacks against the Islamic Republic.
European leaders consider any attempt to reopen the Strait of Hormuz extremely dangerous, as Iran continues to attack tankers in the strait that it does not consider to be from “friendly countries.”
Officials also believe that President Trump’s war against Iran was a choice and was not consulted before it began in late February. It is also reluctant to get involved in situations that could become another “forever war” in the Middle East, such as Iraq or Afghanistan.
President Trump has made clear that NATO, which has supported Ukraine in its four-year conflict with Russia, considers this reluctance a betrayal of the United States. Opponents of that view argue that NATO is premised on the idea of collective defense, not attack.
The president told the Telegraph he expected allies to acquiesce to US requests for aid to Iran.
“It was actually hard to believe, except I wasn’t there. And I didn’t make a huge sale. I just said, ‘Hey,’ and didn’t really push for it. I just think it should be automatic,” he said in comments published Wednesday, adding:
“Including Ukraine, we were there automatically. Ukraine was not our problem. This was a test. We were there for them, and we always would have been there for them. They were not there for us.”
Trump’s comments came after he warned Britain and France on Tuesday that the United States was “not going to help us anymore.”
“The French state will not allow planes carrying military supplies bound for Israel to fly over French territory,” President Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
In one post, he said, “France was completely powerless regarding the ‘Iranian butchers’ who were successfully eliminated! The US will not forget!!”
In another post, the president criticized Britain by name, while urging other countries to take action in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil route that Iran effectively cut off during the war.
“To all the countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, including the United Kingdom, which has refused to get involved in the Iranian beheading, I have a suggestion for you,” Trump wrote.
“The first thing is to buy it from the United States. We have a lot of it. The second thing is to have the belated courage to go to the Straits and just get it.”
In comments published on Wednesday, President Trump again criticized Britain, suggesting the Royal Navy was inadequate.
“We don’t even have a navy, it’s too old and we have aircraft carriers that don’t work,” he said, referring to Britain’s warship fleet.
President Trump told the Telegraph that he would not tell British Prime Minister Keir Starmer “what to do” when it comes to increasing defense spending.
“I’m not going to tell him what to do. He can do whatever he wants. It doesn’t matter. All Starmer wants is expensive windmills that will drive energy prices through the roof.”
Other senior officials have hinted that the United States might abandon NATO, but it is unclear how seriously such threats should be taken. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that the United States will need to “reconsider” its relationship with NATO once the Iran war ends.
He told Al Jazeera: “If NATO is just going to protect us if Europe is attacked and deny us the right to base when we need it, that’s not a very good deal. It’s hard to stay involved in this and say this is good for the United States. So we’re going to have to reconsider all of that.”
Starmer was asked to comment on the US criticism at a press conference on Wednesday. “I am under considerable pressure to change my position on participating in the (Iran) war, but I am not going to change my position on the war,” he told reporters.
“No matter the pressure, no matter the noise, I am the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and I have to act in the national interest,” he said.
Mr Starmer added that he would not choose between the US and Europe, but suggested that relations with the continent were becoming increasingly important. “I think it’s in our interest to have strong relationships with the United States and Europe,” he told reporters, adding:
“But I think we need stronger ties with Europe when it comes to defense and security, energy emissions and the economy.”
