Donald Trump has said he is “absolutely” considering withdrawing the United States from Nato, warning that the matter was “beyond reconsideration” after US allies refused to join the American-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, a longtime critic of Nato, has stepped up his rhetoric since North Atlantic allies refused to take part in the month-long, faltering assault on Iran. He told Reuters on Wednesday he was “absolutely without question” considering withdrawal, after telling the Telegraph the matter was “beyond reconsideration” and insisting he had never been “swayed by Nato”. He signalled he would express his disgust for the alliance in an address to the nation scheduled for Wednesday evening.
While formal withdrawal from the 1949 Washington treaty would be politically and constitutionally difficult, 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,” Daalder wrote. “Military alliances are, at their core, based on trust: the confidence that if I am attacked, you will come help defend. 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.”
The war on Iran was launched on 28 February with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, without consulting Nato allies, and without invoking Article 5. More than a month later, there is no sign of the regime change or collapse Trump and Netanyahu had hoped for. Tehran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused an oil price surge and a worldwide shortage of fertiliser and essential goods, threatening a global recession.
Trump has swung between claiming a negotiated end is imminent and threatening a ground assault, while calling on allies to join the fight. None have come forward. Some European allies have declared the attack illegal and withheld overflight rights and use of bases. Trump lashed out at European capitals, denouncing them as “cowards” and expressing particular contempt for the UK. “You don’t even have a navy,” he told the Telegraph. “You’re too old and had aircraft carriers that didn’t work.”
His rhetoric has been echoed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said the alliance may have become “a one-way street”. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer dismissed the jibes as “noise”, insisting Nato remained “the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen” and repeating that the Iran conflict was “not our war”. Finland’s President Alexander Stubb told Trump that “a more European Nato” was emerging, while Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte has sought to flatter the president, even expressing support for the Iran war despite allied opposition.
