Donald Trump has said he is “absolutely” considering withdrawing the United States from Nato, warning that the matter was “beyond reconsideration” after allies refused to join the US-Israeli war against Iran. The president’s threats, his most determined to date, have left the alliance facing its worst crisis in its 77-year history, according to a former US ambassador.
Trump has long been sceptical about the benefit of Nato membership to the US, but since North Atlantic allies refused to take part in the month-long, faltering US-Israeli assault on Iran, he has stepped up his rhetoric. He told Reuters on Wednesday he was “absolutely without question” considering withdrawal, after telling the Telegraph the matter was “beyond reconsideration”. He signalled he would express his disgust for Nato in an address to the nation scheduled for Wednesday evening.
Ivo Daalder, US permanent representative at Nato from 2009 to 2013, said serious damage had already been done. “This is by far the worst crisis Nato has ever confronted,” he wrote. “It’s hard to see how any European country will now be able and willing to trust the United States to come to its defence.” Trump launched the war on Iran on 28 February with Israel but without consulting Nato allies, and did not invoke article 5, as no attack on a member had occurred.
More than a month into the war, regime change has not materialised, and Tehran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused an oil price surge and global shortages. Trump has called on allies to join the fight, but none have come forward. Some European allies have declared the attack illegal and withheld overflight rights. Trump has lashed out, denouncing European capitals as “cowards” and telling the Telegraph of the UK: “You don’t even have a navy.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has shrugged off the jibes as “noise”, insisting that “Nato is the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen”. He restated his position on the Iran conflict: “This is not our war, and we’re not going to get dragged into it.” Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, said he told Trump that “a more European Nato” was taking shape and that Europe was “shouldering responsibility”.
