Updated ,first published
London: US President Donald Trump has increased his complaints about European allies by saying he is considering withdrawing from NATO, in a dramatic threat to the pact that has bolstered Western security for decades.
Trump said the withdrawal of the United States is now “unthinkable” because of the lack of support from European leaders for strikes against Iran, as well as decisions to prevent American forces from using air bases to defeat the Iranian government.
comments, in an interview with London’s Telegraphit came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called NATO a “one-way street” and said the US would be forced to consider its membership due to the Middle East war.
They also revealed that Trump thought of NATO as a “paper giant” and knew that Russian President Vladimir Putin thought of the alliance in similar terms.
While Trump has complained for years about NATO, pushing European leaders to make a big commitment to increase their defense spending, he claimed last year to be happy with the alliance’s new long-term funding decisions.
But he has complained about the lack of support from European leaders in the war against Iran, which they are leading Telegraph asking him in an interview whether he would reconsider US NATO membership in light of the Middle East conflict.
He replied: “Yes, I would say (it’s) more of a rethink. I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were paper tigers, and Putin knows that too, by the way.
Trump said that the United States had helped Europe in the past and should have been given such support when it launched an attack on Iran, adding that he believed that support should have been “automatic” given the alliance’s history.
“We have been there directly, including Ukraine. Ukraine was not our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always be there for them. They were not there for us,” he said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was asked about Trump’s remarks immediately after they were published, but he avoided any criticism of the president and stuck to his position on the war.
“This is not our war. We will not be drawn into that conflict. It is not in our national interest,” Starmer said in a nationally televised press conference.
When asked about Trump’s remarks, Starmer said that NATO is the most effective military alliance in the world and that he will not accept being pressured by the Iran war.
“Whatever the pressure, whatever the noise, my job as British prime minister is to focus on what is in the interest of the British nation,” he said.
“That’s what got me through this conflict so far.”
Speaking on Fox News, Rubio also signaled a change in NATO’s approach.
“I think there is no doubt, unfortunately, after this conflict is concluded, we will have to re-examine the relationship,” he said.
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was founded in 1949 and now consists of 32 member nations who pledge to defend each other if one is attacked. It has been strengthened and expanded under a series of US presidents, helping to defeat Russia and its allies in the Cold War.
With thousands of US troops serving in Europe under the alliance, any withdrawal from the accord under Trump could take years of work and will take full effect if future presidents act on his decision.
Trump will deliver a keynote address on Wednesday at 9pm Washington time (12pm Thursday AEDT), after earlier saying the war in Iran would end in the coming weeks, with the US completing its military objectives.
The US President on Tuesday (US time) also said he wants countries that depend on the Strait of Hormuz for their energy needs. should take responsibility by keeping an important waterway open.
He said the United States “will not be involved in anything” that will happen later in the sea channel that is closed by the Islamic Republic. The Gulf states depend on the waterway for exports and imports, including food, and 20 percent of the world’s oil supply passes through it.
Trump also expressed frustration with allies who have been unwilling to do more to support America’s war effort, telling them “Go get your own oil.” Trump has recently wavered between insisting there is progress in diplomatic talks with Iran and threatening to escalate the war.
U.S. gas prices have risen to an average of $US4 a liter ($1.53 a liter) for the first time since 2022, as the Iran war continues to push up global oil prices.
The United States has handed Iran a 15-point plan aimed at stopping the fighting, which includes demanding that the sea channel be reopened. Iran’s five-pronged response includes retaining control over the waterway.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has acknowledged receiving a direct message from US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. However, he emphasized that the message does not include negotiations.
Trump has repeatedly stated that Iran and the United States have had talks about the war, while Pakistan has been the main mediator along with Egypt and Turkey during the conflict.
“I receive a message from Witkoff directly, as before, and this does not mean that we are in dialogue,” Araghchi said in an interview with the pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera.
While the diplomatic crisis has subsided, the United States has continued to expand its military presence in the region. Thousands of Marines and paratroopers have been ordered to the area in preparation for a possible attack on Kharg Island.
Hostilities in the area continue to escalate, with more than 3000 people already having lost their lives. On Wednesday, an oil tanker off the coast of Qatar was hit by a missile, the British military’s British Maritime Operations Center said. It is said that the workers were not injured. A Kuwaiti oil tanker loaded with oil was attacked near Dubai a day earlier, one of more than 20 ships attacked by Iran during the war.
Meanwhile, Bahrain issued two warnings for incoming missiles, saying the Iranian attack had caused a fire at a commercial center. In Kuwait, state news agency KUNA said a drone crashed into a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a “massive fire” that crews were struggling to control.
Two drones were also intercepted in Saudi Arabia, and air raid sirens sounded in Israel, although there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
Israel on Wednesday warned of incoming fire from Yemen and Iran, while launching its own his attacks in Lebanon which killed at least five people. The strike in Lebanon came without warning, and Israel did not announce the target.
Israel also struck a facility supplying the Iranian theocracy with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, for alleged use in the chemical weapons program. Iran acknowledged the strike at the Tofigh Daru factory, but insisted it only supplied “hospital drugs” used in medical operations.
Hospitals widely use fentanyl to treat severe pain. But a small amount of the drug can be harmful.
Israel and the United States have warned in recent years that Iran was testing fentanyl in ammunition. The United States previously highlighted an Iranian academic study that examines how Russia may have used a fentanyl derivative during the 2002 hijacking of a Moscow theater by Chechen militants.
Israel claimed that Tofigh Daru supplied fentanyl to an advanced research institute in Tehran, known by its acronym SPND. The United States claims that SPND has conducted research and experiments that could be used for the production of nuclear explosive devices and other weapons.
with AP, Bloomberg
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David Crowe is the Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect through X or email address.
