Newsletters
U.S. President Donald Trump said he is "strongly considering" pulling the United States out of NATO after allied nations refused to support the American-Israeli war on Iran, calling the alliance a "paper tiger" in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph published Wednesday.
Trump's statement is the most direct threat yet to the 77-year old transatlantic defense pact, escalating what began as frustration over basing rights into an existential crisis for the Western alliance.
Asked if he would reconsider U.S. membership in NATO after the conflict, Trump replied: "Oh yes, I would say (it's) beyond reconsideration. I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way."
The remarks came hours before Trump was scheduled to deliver an address to the nation at 9 p.m. EST on Wednesday to provide an update on the war's progress.
Trump singled out the United Kingdom, rebuking U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer for refusing to get involved in the war against Iran and suggesting the Royal Navy (RN) was not capable of contributing.
"You don't even have a navy. You're too old and had aircraft carriers that didn't work," Trump said.
Asked if Starmer should spend more on defense, Trump said, "I'm not going to tell him what to do. He can do whatever he wants. It doesn't matter. All Starmer wants are costly windmills that are driving your energy prices through the roof."
NATO partners have been reluctant to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world's oil typically travels. Tehran has effectively closed the Strait for weeks, sending global oil and gas prices spiraling while threatening a global recession.
Trump said allies' absence during the conflict was "actually hard to believe."
"We've been there automatically, including Ukraine. Ukraine wasn't our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always have been there for them. They weren't there for us," he said.
Trump said he was "glad" Secretary of State Marco Rubio made comments Tuesday, accusing NATO of being a "one-way street" and calling for a reexamination of the alliance after the war.
"If NATO is just about us defending Europe, but they're denying us basing rights when we need them, that's not a very good arrangement. That's a hard one to stay engaged in," Rubio told Fox News host Sean Hannity.
Rubio said he had been "one of the strongest defenders of NATO" during his time in the U.S. Senate because of the value of military bases in Europe that allowed Washington "to project power into different parts of the world."
"If now we have reached a point where the NATO alliance means that we can't use those bases—that, in fact, we can no longer use those bases to defend America's interests, then NATO is a one-way street," he said.
Rubio said Washington was not asking allies to conduct airstrikes but that "when we need them to allow us to use their military bases, their answer is 'No?' Then why are we in NATO?"
Several European countries have restricted the U.S. military from using bases on their soil during the conflict. Italy denied a U.S. aircraft permission to land while it was en route to the Middle East for a combat mission on Tuesday.
Spain closed its airspace to U.S. planes carrying out missions against Iran on Monday.
1 min read
The Telegraph reported recently that Trump was considering a shake-up of NATO designed to punish members who did not meet his funding demands.
Senior Trump administration members have pushed for a "pay-to-play model" that could block allies from decision-making, including when the bloc goes to war.
Sources cited by The Telegraph close to the president said he was also considering pulling U.S. troops out of Germany, a move he has considered since returning to office last year.
Trump said Tuesday night the war could end within "two weeks, maybe three," stating that its only goal was to stop Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
