{"id":3998,"date":"2026-04-01T21:39:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/3998\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T21:39:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:39:07","slug":"nato-rift-threatens-alliance-as-trump-and-rubio-press-europe-for-iran-support-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/3998\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO rift threatens alliance as Trump and Rubio press Europe for Iran support"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 The Trump administration is raising new doubts about America\u2019s future in NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as tensions with European allies grow over the Iran conflict and their reluctance to get involved.<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Telegraph<\/a>, President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. could move to leave the decades-old alliance, calling NATO a \u201cpaper tiger\u201d and saying continued participation was \u201cbeyond reconsideration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hours before the interview, Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed that frustration. In an interview with Sean Hannity on Tuesday, Rubio questioned the value of the alliance if European partners are unwilling to provide military support or allow the U.S. access to key bases during a crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we need them to allow us to use their military bases, their answer is no. Then why are we in NATO?\u201d Rubio said to Fox News, and said that NATO was a “one-way street.”<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter this conflict is concluded, we are going to have to reexamine that relationship,” he added.<\/p>\n

The criticism comes as the U.S. remains deeply involved in the escalating conflict with Iran, particularly after disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 a critical global shipping route responsible for roughly 20 percent of the world\u2019s oil supply. Iran<\/a> effectively shut down the passage for weeks, driving up gas prices and raising fears of a broader economic slowdown.<\/p>\n

Despite the stakes, several NATO allies \u2014 including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain \u2014 have stopped short of joining U.S. military efforts tied to the conflict.<\/p>\n

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer responded swiftly to the White House’s comments, making clear Britain would not be pulled further into the conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever the noise, I\u2019m going to act in the British national interest,\u201d Starmer said. \u201cThis is not our war, and we\u2019re not going to get dragged into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Trump has floated the idea of withdrawing from NATO numerous times before, actually leaving the alliance would be a complex and politically fraught process and could drive world leaders into an uncertain geopolitical future.<\/p>\n

Under a 2023 U.S. law, a president cannot unilaterally exit the alliance. Congress would need to approve withdrawal with a two-thirds majority vote \u2014 60 lawmakers \u2014 in the Senate, meaning bipartisan support would be required to end the nearly 80-year-old treaty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 The Trump administration is raising new doubts about America\u2019s future in NATO, or the North…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4008,4,15,303,100,481,4007,920,291],"class_list":["post-3998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-europe","tag-alliance","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-iran","tag-keir-starmer","tag-nato","tag-rubio","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}