Donald Trump considers pulling out of NATO, will give prime-time speech on Middle East conflict
Updated ,first published
London: US President Donald Trump has stepped up his grievances with his European allies, saying he is considering withdrawing from the NATO alliance as an extraordinary threat to an agreement that has underpinned Western security for decades.
Trump said a US withdrawal was now “beyond reconsideration” given European leaders’ lack of support for attacks on Iran, including decisions to prevent American forces from using air bases to defeat the Iranian regime.
comments, In an interview in London TelegramThis development came just hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described NATO as a “one-way street” and said the US would have to consider its membership in the wake of the war in the Middle East.
They also revealed that Trump thought of NATO as a “paper tiger” and knew that Russian President Vladimir Putin felt the same way about the alliance.
While Trump has complained about NATO for many years and pushed European leaders to make a major commitment to increase defense spending, he claimed last year that he was happy with new funding decisions for the alliance in the long term.
However, he complained about the lack of support from European leaders in the war against Iran. Telegram In an interview, he was asked whether the United States would reconsider NATO membership in the wake of the Middle East conflict.
He replied: “Oh yes, I would say [it’s] beyond re-evaluation. I have never been impressed by NATO. “I always knew they were paper tigers, and by the way, Putin knows it too.”
Trump argued that the United States has helped Europe in the past and that the same support should be given when it attacks Iran, adding that he believes this support should be “automatic” given the history of the alliance.
“We were automatically there, including Ukraine. Ukraine was not our problem. It was a test and we were on their side and would always be on their side. They were not there for us,” he said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was asked about Trump’s comments immediately after they were published, but he avoided any criticism of the president and maintained his stance on the war.
“This is not our war. We will not be drawn into conflict. It is not in our national interests,” Starmer said in a televised press conference to the nation.
Asked about Trump’s remarks, Starmer said NATO was the most effective military alliance in the world and would not bow to pressure regarding the war in Iran.
“Whatever the pressure, whatever the noise, my job as British prime minister is to focus on Britain’s national interest,” he said.
“That’s what’s guided me through this conflict so far.”
Speaking to Fox News, Rubio also signaled a change in the approach to NATO.
“There is no doubt that, unfortunately, we will have to re-examine this relationship after this conflict is over,” he said.
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was founded in 1949 and currently includes 32 member nations that have pledged to defend each other if attacked. It was strengthened and expanded under a series of US presidents and helped defeat Russia and its allies in the Cold War.
Given the thousands of US troops serving in Europe as part of the alliance, any withdrawal from the agreement under Trump would likely require years of work and would only be fully effective if subsequent presidents act on his decision.
Trump will deliver his prime time speech at 9pm Washington time on Wednesday (12pm AEDT on Thursdays) after previously saying the war in Iran would end in the coming weeks and that the US would have largely completed its military objectives.
The US president also said on Tuesday (US time) that he wants countries that depend on the Strait of Hormuz for their energy needs to take responsibility for keeping the vital waterway open.
He said that the United States “will have nothing to do” with what happens next in the strait closed by the Islamic Republic. Gulf countries rely on the waterway for both exports and imports, including food, and 20 percent of the world’s oil supply passes through this canal.
Trump also expressed frustration with U.S. allies who did not want to do more to support the war effort, telling them to “go buy their own oil.” Trump has vacillated lately between insisting there is progress in diplomatic talks with Iran and threatening to expand war.
As the Iran war continues to drive up fuel prices around the world, US gas prices averaged more than $4 per gallon ($1.53 per liter) for the first time since 2022.
The USA presented a 15-item plan to Iran, aiming to achieve a ceasefire and including the request to reopen the strait. Iran’s five-point response includes preserving its sovereignty over the waterway.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged receiving direct messages from US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. But he insisted the messages were not in the nature of negotiations.
Trump has repeatedly said that Iran and the United States are in talks about war, and that Pakistan is an important intermediary along with Egypt and Türkiye during the conflict.
“I am receiving messages directly from Witkoff, as before, and this does not mean that we are in negotiations,” Araghchi said in an interview with pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera.
While diplomatic wranglings ended, the United States continued to expand its military presence in the region. Thousands of sailors and paratroopers were ordered to the area in preparation for a possible attack on Kharg Island.
As conflicts in the region continue to escalate, more than 3,000 people have lost their lives. The British military’s UK Merchant Marine Operations center said a tanker was hit by a shell off the coast of Qatar on Wednesday. The crew was reported unharmed. A fully loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker, one of more than 20 ships attacked by Iran during the war, was attacked off the coast of Dubai the day before.
Bahrain, meanwhile, issued two warnings of incoming missiles and said the Iranian attack caused a fire at a business facility. Kuwait’s state-run KUNA news agency said a drone crashed into a fuel depot at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a “massive fire” that crews tried to control.
Two drones were also seized in Saudi Arabia and air raid sirens sounded in Israel, but no damage or casualties were reported.
Israel warned of fire from both Yemen and Iran on Wednesday, while launching its own attacks in Lebanon that resulted in the deaths of at least five people. The attack in Lebanon took place without warning and Israel did not disclose the target.
Israel also struck a facility supplying Iran’s theocracy with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid allegedly used in its chemical weapons program. Iran acknowledged the strike on the Tofigh Daru factory but insisted it only supplies “hospital drugs” used in medical operations.
Hospitals widely use fentanyl to treat severe pain. However, a small amount of the drug can be fatal.
Both Israel and the United States have warned in recent years that Iran was testing fentanyl in munitions. The United States has previously highlighted an Iranian academic study examining whether Russia likely used a fentanyl derivative during a hostage-taking by Chechen militants in a 2002 Moscow theater.
Israel alleged that Tofigh Daru supplied fentanyl to an advanced research institute in Tehran known by the acronym SPND. The United States alleges that SPND conducted research and testing that could be applied to the development of nuclear explosive devices and other weapons.
AP via Bloomberg
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David Crowe is the European correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect with: X or email.
