“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,” Trump said.
“Beyond not being there, it was actually hard to believe. And I didn’t do a big sale. I just said, ‘Hey’, you know, I didn’t insist too much. I just think it should be automatic. 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 added.
Trump’s remarks came after NATO members refused to send warships to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which about 20% of the world’s oil passes.
Iran has effectively closed the Strait for weeks, contributing to rising global energy prices and concerns about a possible recession.
Reacting to NATO’s decision on social media at the time, Trump said he wasn’t ‘surprised’ by its stance and described the alliance as a “one-way street.” “We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need.”
Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, has echoed similar concerns. In an interview with Fox News, he said that the US may need to reevaluate its NATO membership once the conflict with Iran ends.
He explained that if NATO only expects the US to defend Europe in case of an attack, but at the same time denies America access to military bases when it needs them, it is “not a very good arrangement.”
Meanwhile, Trump has indicated that diplomatic negotiations with Iran are no longer a condition for winding down US involvement in the region. He said that the US would be “leaving very soon … maybe two weeks, maybe three.”
