President Donald Trump assailed NATO on Wednesday, threatening to walk away from the 32-nation defense bloc over its response to the war in Iran.
Asked in an interview with The Telegraph whether he would consider ending U.S. membership in the alliance after Operation Epic Fury, Trump said it was “beyond reconsideration.”
“I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and [Russian President Vladimir Putin] knows that too, by the way,” he added.
Trump, however, cannot unilaterally withdraw the United States from the alliance it helped found in 1949. A 2023 law — co-authored by then-Sen. Marco Rubio, now secretary of state — vests that power in Congress, not the president. Even then, NATO rules impose a one-year notice period before an exit takes effect.
Trump’s rebuke of NATO allies stems from their reluctance to support American efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint responsible for roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies under normal circumstances. Tehran’s effective blockade has exacerbated energy costs and granted the Islamic Republic strategic leverage over the U.S. and its allies as the conflict enters its fifth week.
“There was no consultation with the Europeans about this war, and the closing of the Strait is a direct result of the U.S.-Israeli military operations,” said Max Bergmann, a former state department official and the current director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Referring to Trump’s jabs at NATO — and key members like the United Kingdom and France in particular — Bergmann added: “It’s in some ways a clear deflection for the failures of the U.S. military campaign, and sort of saying ‘Well, it’s your problem now.’”
But the expert warned that the transatlantic alliance could falter without American military might.
“NATO is built around the United States serving as the backbone of European security,” Bergmann told Military Times. “It’s not defenseless because Europeans haven’t spent money. It’s defenseless because if you remove the backbone from an entity, then the appendages don’t work. And that is the fundamental dilemma that Europe faces.”
In a post on X, Poland’s defense minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz acknowledged NATO’s dependence on Washington, while noting that the alliance “works both ways.”
“Amid the emotions surrounding Donald Trump’s words, one must keep a cool head,” he wrote. “There is no NATO without the USA, but there are no strong United States without allies either.”
At the heart of the alliance is Article 5 — the core commitment that an attack on one member is an attack on all. It has been invoked only once: in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
European leaders have rejected Trump’s assertion that the pact’s cohesion is unproven. They see the joint U.S.-Israeli offensive on Iran as a war of choice, quite different from the kind of circumstance to which Article 5 applies.
“This isn’t the first time he’s done this, and since it’s a recurring phenomenon, you can probably judge the consequences for yourself,” Stefan Kornelius, the spokesman for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, told reporters. “I simply want to state on behalf of the German government that we are, of course, committed to NATO.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a frequent target of Trump’s broadsides, has rejected any direct participation in the conflict — but maintains that Downing Street remains dedicated to the alliance.
“I’ve been absolutely clear that this is not our war and we’re not going to get dragged into it,” Starmer said in a press conference. “NATO is the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen, and it has kept us safe for many decades, and we are fully committed to NATO.”
A White House official told Military Times on Wednesday that the secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte, is expected to meet with Trump in Washington next week.
Rutte has generally worked hard to keep in Trump’s good graces — an approach that has led the secretary general into controversy at times, most famously when he referred to the U.S. president as “Daddy” at a NATO summit last June.
Tanya Noury is a reporter for Military Times and Defense News, with coverage focusing on the White House and Pentagon.
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