US President Donald Trump launched a fresh attack on NATO during a Turning Point Action event in Arizona, accusing the alliance of failing to support the US and Israel in the conflict against Iran, NBC reported.
Addressing a supportive crowd that booed at the mention of the North Atlantic Alliance, Trump declared that NATO proved to be “absolutely useless when we needed them.” He compared the alliance’s current stance to a donor attempting to contribute to a political campaign after the election has already been won. “Campaign contributions after I won don’t count,” Trump said. “And NATO, after we won, that doesn’t count either.”
The president also downplayed the scale of the conflict with Tehran, referring to it as a “military excursion” rather than a significant historical event. “This isn’t the biggie. This isn’t the big time,” he added. Trump’s frustration stems largely from the refusal of several NATO members to join efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz or provide airspace for military operations.
The tension between Washington and its allies has reached a turning point. While a fragile two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran was agreed upon on April 8, it has done little to mend the rift within the alliance.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte previously attempted to soften Trump’s stance by highlighting European contributions to logistics and overflights, but the White House maintains that the alliance “turned its back on the American people.”
Trump’s rhetoric has revived concerns about a potential US withdrawal or the redeployment of American troops from “less supportive” NATO countries to more cooperative states.
While former US Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder argued that the alliance was never formally asked to participate in the conflict, Trump continues to insist that NATO’s failure to act during the crisis has rendered it obsolete in its current form.