Says ‘strongly considering’ pulling US out of ‘paper tiger’ alliance
WASHINGTON: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO is on the verge of collapse as US President Donald Trump is “seriously considering” pulling out of the 32-member security alliance after they refused to join his war against Iran.
According to an interview he gave to The Telegraph, Trump again called the alliance a “paper tiger” and added that the US membership of the defence treaty was “beyond reconsideration”.
“I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way,” the UK English daily quoted Trump as saying.
The development comes amid Trump’s severe criticism of NATO allies – first over the issue of his Greenland takeover bid and again over the Iran war.
After the US, alongside Israel, launched strikes against Iran, Tehran responded in kind and attacked US targets in several Gulf countries. Iran also blocked shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, triggering a massive global energy crisis.
Trump called upon NATO allies and other countries dependent on Hormuz to join the US efforts to reopen the chokepoint waterway.
However, none responded positively as NATO allies refused to be drawn into an active conflict.
This enraged Trump, who called NATO partners “cowards” and said that the US will remember.
“Without the U.S.A., NATO IS A PAPER TIGER!” Trump said on Truth Social last month.
He said that NATO allies didn’t want to join the fight to stop a “nuclear-powered Iran”, adding that the US will “remember”.
He asserted that the US has “militarily won” and that there was very little danger for them now. “COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!” the US President added.
Earlier in January, Trump asserted that Russia and China would have “ZERO FEAR of NATO if the US was not part of it.”
After European nations united against the US over the issue of Greenland, Trump had iterated his belief that the NATO allies would not defend the US.
Agencies